Someone to Watch Over Me
by Pen to Paper Writer
Summary: Rick Castle and his partner are assigned to protect a possible witness at all costs, Kate Beckett. What happens when while in the course of his duties as her protector Rick starts to fall for her from afar. His partner tries to warn him that nothing good will come from his obsession with their witness but he doesn't care. Is she safe?
1. Chapter 1

**Auburn Correctional Facility  
Maximum Security Prison  
135 State Street, Auburn, New York.**

* * *

Timing is everything and his cell faces the wrong direction. But he could hear the truck drive by his first-floor prison cell. His brother would be using the stolen cube van that he took from the medical supply company and make it in and out before they noticed that it was missing. He had to do his part to make this escape be believable. He watched as the night guard started his rounds by climbing up the staircase to the second floor. Then he looked to his cellmate J.J. and gave him a nod after the guard was out of sight. He climbed down off his top bunk and walked closer to the bars and whispered into Josh's ear.

_"Good luck Josh and give my regards to Kate."  
_  
Josh nodded his reply and they started their act.

"I thought I told you not to touch my books!" Josh screamed loudly.

"I didn't touch your precious books!" J.J. replied just as loud.

"You had to because you are the only one in here so it had to be you! It certainly wasn't me!

"Why you son of a bitch! Piss off!" J.J. landed a solid punch to Josh's jaw sending him straight into the cinder block wall. Then he gave him a shot to the abdomen and Josh launched himself right at J.J. sending them both into the bars of the cell.

The other cons had started to get a little out of control in their cells and sent anything that could burn over the side and onto the floor below. They also stuck mirrors out between their bars to see any action coming from the cell at the end of the row where Josh and J.J. were. The guard on the third floor had heard the fight and pulled out his radio to call in the fight and request back up.

J.J. had put on a good show but the best was yet to come. He slammed Josh up against the wall and as he did, he took a shiv from his waistband and stabbed Josh in the side making for a lot of blood with minimal damage. Josh screamed and J.J. took the shiv and threatened to stab him in the eye. Just as he was about to stab him the guards rushed into the cell and separated both men. Since Josh was bleeding heavily the guards took him directly to the infirmary.

* * *

Peter Davidson had made it into the security area of the prison and parked the van for inspection. He had bitched to the guard that he was sent here as a last run of the night. The guards searched the truck and found nothing out of place then they let him into the prison. He entered the medical exam area with no problems. There was no one to challenge him. He unloaded the box that had everything he and his brother needed to get him out of this hell hole. He removed the black duffle bag and placed it on the exam table while he finished emptying the box. He took out the last item in the box, a 9 mm Smith and Wesson and then he heard the noise. He checked his watch and realized that they were right on time with his brother. He took the duffle and retreated back to the surgical area of the infirmary.

The guards were not making it easy for Josh. When the doctor had told the guards to put him on the exam table the guards lifted him up and slammed him onto the table hard. The guard at his head poked him with his nightstick where he had been stabbed and said: "fuck you."

Peter entered the surgical area and raised the gun to the back of the guard's head and cocked the hammer on the gun. The guard froze but the doctor hearing the action of a gun being cocked raced to the alarm on the wall to sound it. The next thing he felt was a bullet pierce his shoulder. Then Josh got up off the table, pulled the nightstick from the guard's holder and bashed him in the head twice breaking his nose and then cracking his skull open. As he was going down, he continued to beat him all over his body.

"Poke me in my stab wound? Well, fuck you too!" Josh yelled.

"Josh that's enough! We're on a tight schedule here so stop screwing around!"

Josh looked over at the doctor who was holding his shoulder and gave him a crack to the head as well and then he fell unconscious onto the floor.

Peter pulled out a pair of jeans, a flannel shirt, and a pair of running shoes. Josh checked his watch and told his brother that they were ahead of schedule by three minutes. He quickly changed out of his orange prison jumpsuit and gave his brother the bag back and he shoved everything into the box and placed it under the exam table. Josh took off for the roof with the fifty-foot length of rope hanging from his shoulder and his brother headed back for the van.

* * *

Josh watched the road between the two cell blocks. His brother would be rolling through here in about two minutes. He tied off the one end of the rope to the steel vent pipe about three feet from the edge and threw the remaining rope over the side. He watched as the rope dangled and noticed that it was too short. He'd need to jump at least thirty feet to the top of the van as it drove by. He just hopes that he won't break anything.

Peter is sweating bullets and hopes that this will work. He drives the van as close to the building as he dares so his brother can jump onto the van. He slows a little so he does not look that suspicious. He watches as his brother hangs from the end of the rope.

Josh sees the headlights of the van as it makes the right turn between the two cell blocks. He hoists himself over the side and shimmies down the rope. Just then the searchlight from the guard tower shines towards him and he stops moving so he is not seen. The light moves on and he continues moving down the rope until he reaches the end of it. He sees his brother slow down as he reaches the end of the rope so he pushes off the side of the building and lets go of the rope. He lands on top of the roof of the van and almost falls over the side of the truck. He grabs onto the rail that's mounted on the front of the van. Once he slides down the rail, he can hear his brother yell out to him to get under the van and into the box that's mounted between the frame. He slides along with the van that's speeding along and grabs the exhaust pipe and he burns his hand. He grabs the driveshaft but because it's spinning he can't keep a grip on it and then he finally finds the cross member. His ass is starting to get hot from being dragged along the road and it's then when he finds the trap door for the box. But he panics because the van is starting to slow down and he is not hidden yet.

* * *

Peter pulls the van into the inspection area and parks shutting down the engine. The same two guards are there when he entered but they have added more procedures to their inspection. One guard is searching the underneath of the van with a very large mirror and a flashlight starting from the back of the van. He hopes that his brother is tucked away in the box. He moved the side view mirror up and down to see what the guard is looking at under the van and so far he's not finding the secret door. After looking all over the van the one guard is satisfied that there is nothing wrong. The second guard is still looking around inside of the van and lifts up the cover on a crate finding nothing as well, he leaves the van and closes the roll-up door.

The first guard wished him a good night and tells him that he is good to go. Peter starts the van up and puts it into drive and pulls out of the inspection area and out of the prison.

* * *

The trap door inside the cargo area of the van popped open and Josh pushed through the hole and worked the rest of his body through the small opening.

"Are we out?" He asked his brother.

Peter either did not hear him or didn't want to answer him until he was sure they were safe so Josh asked him again.

"Are we out?"

"Yeah."

"I can't believe that we got away with it."

* * *

The next day inside Josh's cell, J.J. was moved to a different cell while the warden and the inspector looked into the escape of one Josh Davidson.

"Who is this?" The inspector asked as he held up a black and white picture of Josh's girlfriend.

"That's Kate Beckett. She came to see Davidson when he was first incarcerated here but she has not been here for a while now, at least two years." The warden tells the inspector as he reads from Josh's folder.

"The address listed there for her is that her most current?" The inspector asks the warden eying the folder.

"It better be because that's all we have on file for her."

"May I take that file so I can copy down her address?"

"Sure." The warden hands over the file reluctantly.

"2117 St Paul Ave. Pelham Bay the Bronx. Interesting." The inspector writes down the address in his notepad.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Rick Castle sits at a diner with his partner Kevin Ryan. They are eating a quick breakfast while they watch their suspect from the diner on the docks across from them. The cook brings Rick his two eggs sunny side up and two pieces of whole-wheat toast with bacon.

"Anything else mac?" The cook asks.

"Yeah, how about another cup of coffee and some sausages."

"Comin right up." The cook turns and leaves.

"So how long do you think he will just keep on standing there doing nothing?" Kevin asks.

"I'd say about another ten minutes just to make sure there is no one following him." Rick answers. He takes the toast squirts some ketchup on the toast, grabs a fork and scoops up the two eggs, then adds the bacon to the mix. He closes his creation with the other piece of toast making the yolks burst and drip all over his hand.

"That is disgusting."

"Really?" Then Rick squishes the toast together a little more making it ooze a little more.

"Does your mother know you eat like that?"

"It's an old family custom."

"Well, it's not healthy. You've got to take your time and eat right. Do you have any idea what that does to your digestive system?"

"No, but I get the feeling that you're going to tell me."

"When you eat a meal you need to savor it. Start with the smell…"

Rick is looking out the window and sees their suspect turn and enter the warehouse. He thrusts his hand with the egg sandwich into Ryan's face. He tries to back away telling Rick that he is going to get him full of egg yolk.

"Come on Kev he's on the move. Pay the tab."

Rick drops his half-eaten sandwich on the plate and wipes his hands on a napkin as he runs out of the diner with Kevin in tow just after he drops a twenty on the table to cover the bill. They are out the door and have an eye on their suspect. He is doing a deal right there on the dock as they walk towards him faster.

* * *

With his deal complete the suspect walks back into the warehouse not knowing that there are two detectives after him. Rick and Kevin pick up the pace and they take cover behind a very large crate just in case. As they peer around the corner they see nothing that fits the description of their suspect. What they do see is a work area with five Hispanic women cleaning off fish. The smell is rancid and he makes a face of disgust. Rick turns back and tells Kevin,

"Alright, he's not here. I don't see him anywhere. You take that room and go upstairs and I'll take the dock." Rick says as he points to the smelly room where the women are gutting the fish.

"Oh no you don't! I bought breakfast. You can go in there and I'll take the dock." Ryan counters and turns away to search the dock.

"Aw shit! Okay."

* * *

Rick walks through the room with the working women and heads towards the staircase. He makes a face as he passes the workers and sees what they are doing. Ugh. Ryan walks towards the dock and doesn't see their suspect so he moves inward to meet Rick coming through the other side. They will meet in the middle he hopes.

Rick gets to the top of the stairs and finds that there is a doorway for their suspect to get away. He cautiously checks out the door leading to the roof and climbs out onto the fire escape to search the area. Walking around the corner and on the other side of the building, he looks ahead of him and sees nothing. That's when he feels it. Rick is jumped from behind and there is a knife blade shoved towards his face. Knowing that he will be cut he elbows his attacker and throws his hand against the wall making him drop the knife. He turns to face his and realizes that this guy is their suspect so he throws three punches to his abdomen and they move back towards the edge of the fire escape.

Rick gets the upper hand and turns the guy against the wall and tells him,

"You're under arrest."

The guy reacts to this by pushing Rick into the railing that overlooks all the fish that are being processed in a holding area below them. He overdid it and they both go over the railing and land in the fish below giving them a little cushion to break their fall. Before he knew it, the guy had him pinned to the floor between all the fish and was landing punches to his head. Rick knew he would not survive this beating for very long. With his last strike the suspect climbs up and out of the hold and the chute opens up and Rick tries to stop from going through the chute and onto the conveyor belt to the processing area.

"KEVIN!"

Ryan is coming around the back of the building when he hears his name again being yelled out by Rick.

"KEVIN HE'S GETTING AWAY!"

As Rick finishes yelling he is sliding through the chute with a ton of fish following along with him back into the room with all the women in it. As he tries to get off the conveyor the women are throwing fish at him.

STOP POLICE! Kevin yells as he sees the man they were chasing. The suspect turns and runs back towards where Rick fell through the chute. Ryan climbs up the ladder that leads to where their guy is running to. He chases him back into the building and through the hallway and out the staircase that leads to the dock. The suspect has a long head start and by the time Kevin gets to the top of the staircase the guy is running down the dock towards the street.

Rick gets out onto the dock and sees their suspect. He pulls his gun from his holster and screams to the suspect to stop right where he is.

"Freeze! Interlock your fingers together behind your head slowly then turn around and face me, Wilson."

The suspect does that and that's when Rick gets in the last word,

"Now you're really under arrest."

Just as he finishes his sentence with his gun still trained on the man Kevin drives a forklift between the two men and he stops blocking Rick's view of the suspect. When he does, he yells at his partner to move out of the way. Wilson sees an opportunity and pulls out his gun and shoots at Rick. He misses but he takes a shot at Ryan and the bullet ricochets off the forklift almost hitting him. He hits the gas to get out of the line of fire and the forklift plows through a crate of fish and then into the water below. Kevin jumps away from the forklift so he is not dragged down with it. When he surfaces Rick rushes to the edge of the dock and sees that his partner is not moving he's just floating on the surface of the water. He takes off his jacket and jumps in after Kevin pulling him back to the edge of the ladder. People help him get his partner back up onto the dock and by the time they both get back up onto the dock their suspect is long gone. It's useless to try and find him because they have blown their opportunity to catch him and put him away. Kevin is being seen by the EMT's for hitting his head on the safety cage of the forklift. He'll have a battle scar but he will survive.

They both know that there will be no living this down. The amount of damage they caused will be coming from the department's budget and they will catch hell from their Captain. Knowing that there is nothing more left to do they head back to the precinct.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

Josh needs to change his appearance and decided to lose his beard. They had ditched the van hours earlier and stole a Chevy Traverse. It was a basic model but it got them where they are now. And that was at a gas station that was on Route 17 in East Branch New York. His brother had given him a disposable razor and shaving cream and he got to work shaving off his beard.

Peter was outside waiting patiently and keeping an eye out for any cops who might be looking for them. So far there was nothing out of the ordinary going on. It felt like a normal day. But with this calm, he thought that there would be a price to pay and they were going to pay for it with their lives. A chill ran down his spine and wondered if this was all worth it.

Josh looks at the bruises that he has on his face from when J.J. had hit him in the head repeatedly. It looks just as bad as it feels. But the bruises will eventually fade and he dries his face. What he sees when he looks at his reflection in the mirror is that he is not as recognizable as he was before. He puts on a hat to hide his face even more and then he walks out of the restroom. He sees Peter right away and the look on his face is something that surprises him.

"Well, it took you long enough!"

"Hey, you can't rush greatness."

Peter huffs at his brother's comment and he moves to the passenger side of the Traverse.

"There's nothing in the world like it," Josh tells his brother.

"What's that?" He answers.

"Freedom!" Josh tells him as he throws the plastic bag containing the razor and other necessities into the rear cargo area of the Traverse and closing the liftgate. Peter gets in the passenger seat and Josh gets behind the wheel. He starts the SUV and they take off spinning the tires out of the parking lot and onto Route 17 heading South.

* * *

The second they entered the precinct they were getting looks and they knew why. The smell of fish that Rick had all over him was the reason. They tried to make to their desks but the other detectives kept giving them grief.

"Man, where is that awful smell coming from?" One detective queried.

"That's Castle's new aftershave. Don't you like it?" Another replied back.

"No! It smells like a fish factory."

"Haha. You guys go through what we went through and we'll see how you come out smelling!" Rick said.

Rick and Kevin head towards the evidence room to drop off the knife that their suspect almost stabbed Rick with. They were lucky in the sense that he cut his finger on it giving them a blood sample to run.

"I need to have this blood analyzed for a DNA match in the system. And I'd like to have the results today if possible." Rick asked the evidence clerk.

"I'll get right on it." The desk phone and the clerk answers it. She talks for about half a minute and hangs up.

Esposito and Sully are sitting on the edge of Espo's desk and he starts in on Ryan and Castle.

"Sully, what is that smell?" Javi asks.

"Oh I'm not sure Javi but it looks like someone was in a fight."

"Hey Castle I don't see anyone in cuffs," Javi observes.

"That can only mean one thing Espo," Sully said.

"Yeah, they both got their asses kicked."

Castle just gives Espo a look that could kill. He's sure that if the shoe were on the other foot he'd be pissed off too. Ryan and Castle come around to pass Espo's desk and then that's when he tells Rick,

"God, you stink Castle."

Rick just looks at him hoping that Javi will start something but he is interrupted by the desk clerk.

"Hey, guys the Captain wants to see you right away like ASAP."

"ASAP? I'd like to take a shower first!"

"Please take a shower. My nose hairs are curling." Sully tells Rick.

"I wish you would too. You stink. But by the tone of the Captain's voice, he will talk to you just the way you are." The desk clerk said.

Javi and Sully decided that they don't want to be a part of those guys getting in trouble with the Captain so they both try to make a swift exit. They make it almost to the elevator and that's when the other shoe drops.

"Ah, not so fast you two. The Captain wants to see you too." The clerk tells them.

They stopped in the middle of the hallway and look at each other. And at the same time, they speak.

"What did you do now?"

* * *

Rick is the first to enter Montgomery's office. He notices a tall man with sandy brown hair standing next to his Captain and already he doesn't like what's going on. Roy looks up at Rick and Kevin and he asks,

"What the hell happened to you two? You guys look like you got your asses kicked."

Rick didn't want to hear it. He was tired and his head hurt so he goes to sit down in the chair across from Roy's desk. Just as he starts to drop into the chair Roy yells,

"Don't you dare sit in that chair smelling the way that you do. Stand there in the corner for now."

Rick does just that and stands near the tall man. Espo, Ryan, and Sully come in and sit down wondering why they are here. Once everyone is in the office Sully closes the door.

"Gentlemen this is Special Agent in charge Will Sorrenson from the New York field office."

"Will this is Kevin Ryan, Rick Castle, Javier Esposito, and Sully Sullivan." Roy introduced them as each man shook Will's hand. When it came to shaking Rick's hand Will was a bit undecided because of the smell but he lightly shook his hand.

"Listen, guys, the FBI needs our services for the next couple of weeks namely the four of you. As of right now, all your active cases will be reassigned. Will here will explain a little further." Roy tells them.

"Now wait a second!" Rick shouts out. "Hang on here we are really close to breaking…"

"A forklift wasn't it?" Roy finishes for him. Espo and Sully snicker as Rick looks at Ryan sternly.

"This will be a full-time gig," Roy tells them not wanting to hear any of them complain.

Will asks Roy for a wipe to clean off his hand and Roy tells him that they are in the bottom desk drawer.

"I'm not sure if you're familiar with Davidson but two years ago he killed two of our agents. He should have received the needle but he had a top-notch attorney. The 52nd precinct never logged certain evidence and he was tried on a lesser charge."

"Wait a second, I heard about this guy on the news. He killed a guard at Auburn yesterday right?" Javi said.

"Yeah, he did. Davidson and his brother. They stole a van and ditched it right after he escaped. They then stole a Chevy out of someone's driveway outside of Syracuse. We have reason to believe that they are heading to the city on their way to Mexico."

"Why would they come here? Why don't they just head straight down to Mexico?" Sully asks.

"Because we think that he has friends here in the city. We'll be setting up about a half a dozen stakeouts. Now we will handle the important ones but since we are a little short on help you guys will take the others that are less important."

"Of course," Javi muttered.

"Who are we watching?" Sully asked Will.

"He has an old girlfriend living in the Bronx a Kathrine Beckett. You'll be watching her house and the 48th precinct will take where she works. She is also going to night school studying to become a lawyer. Here are the keys to the house we rented across the street." Will hands the keys over to Roy.

"We're going to have to move quickly on this because Davidson is a threat to anyone in the city. If he doesn't get his way he usually settles the dispute with a gun."

"Are you going to authorize a wiretap on her phone?" Ryan asks.

"Hopefully within 24 hours. Guys one more thing, if you spot Davidson just call it in. Do not, I repeat do not go after him. We don't want to lose him if you do. Remember this is an FBI operation."

"Wait a second, wait a second! There is something so not kosher going on here. Excuse me captain but what he's asking us to do is to sit on our asses on some low priority shit detail on the off chance that Davidson does show up. And if he does show up were supposed to call him so you can make the arrest and make us look like chumps? I'm sorry captain I don't mean to be so negative but this is bullshit! I'm a cop, not a security guard. If I see Davidson coming anywhere near this Kate Beckett I'm going to be too busy to make a phone call so you can swoop in and make the collar." Rick directs the last part of his rant at Will.

"I hope your attitude doesn't affect your performance," Will says.

Rick has had enough and he takes two quick strides to be right in front of Will's face and says,

"Would you like to see how this attitude…"

"That's enough Castle! Sorrenson if that's all you have, you can leave, NOW!"

"We'll be in touch," Will tells the Captain as he grabs his files leaves.

"What an asshole." Javi states.

"Definitely." Rick agrees.

"Hey! That's enough!" Montgomery shouts at the both of them. "I don't want to hear that kind of crap. And I don't want to hear about anyone else hearing about it either."

"Now this will be a 24-hour operation. Castle and Ryan have the night shift and Esposito and Sullivan have the day shift." Montgomery throws the set of keys to Ryan and then Javi gives Roy a look.

"Is something on your mind Esposito? Roy asks

"No no, nothing at all sir." As he looks at Rick.

"Alright out with it. What's up?"

"Well if it's all the same to you, sir, I do not want to be on another stakeout with them again," Javi explains as he points to Rick and Kevin.

"Why?" Roy asks.

"Why sir?" Javi responds stalling.

"Yeah, why?" Rick asks him.

"Castle and Ryan are slobs, sir. They make a mess and they never clean up after themselves and we end up doing it just so we can be comfortable. I mean take a look at Rick or should I say smell him." Javi explains.

"Whoa there Espo, I was just trying to apprehend a suspect, how was I going to know he was going to drag me through dead fish? So, this isn't all about me."

"Lick my left one Espo!" Ryan says. "You guys ate burgers and fries from McDonald's and left the damn wrappers everywhere. Never once did you change the damn toilet paper roll in the bathroom so it's not our fault that the place was a mess.

All Roy can do is roll his eyes about how childish these guys were being. He had had enough but secretly he is laughing at the way they can't tolerate each other.

"That's enough! Listen to me the FBI has asked us to do a job. And that's exactly what you're going to do. I don't want to hear another word about the assignments that I gave out. I don't give a shit if you don't like each other. The four of you are going to watch this broad until the fat lady sings or I say different. And if you fuck this up I'm going to cut your balls off and stick'em in my shredder. So, get to it… NOW!"

"One last thing Captain, Espo here has no balls!" Rick says as he pats Espo on the shoulder making a beeline for the door.


	4. Chapter 4

Later that night Kevin picks up Rick from his loft in an unmarked and hopefully unsuspicious car. The ride from his loft in Manhattan is about 38 minutes to the Bronx due to the lack of traffic.

Ryan pulls up to the house that they are going to be watching and says,

"Here we are. 2117 St. Paul Ave Pelham Bay." Ryan says from the driver's seat.

"Ugh," Rick utters out not liking what he is seeing.

"And that's us right over there." He points to the blue house across from Ms. Beckett's house.

"Double ugh. Eh, what else are we going to do? At least it's a nice neighborhood." Rick says.

"Yeah, well there is that," Ryan says as he drives away to the back of their house to park the car.

"I just hope that this place has heat. Does Jenny know about this job?"

"I told her and she was not that happy that I'll be working the night shift and not days anymore. So, when I come home should be leaving for work."

"What about Sarah Grace who is going to take care of her?" Rick wonders.

"Oh, did I tell you she goes to preschool now. Granted it's only half a day but it's better than me watching her when I need to sleep. Jenny is working part-time at the school and when Sarah Grace turns five, she will go back to work full time. By then Sarah Grace will be in kindergarten." Kevin tells him proudly.

"Gina is going to kill me if she finds out that this is going to be longer than a few weeks," Rick says.

"You should marry that girl and fast. I don't know of any other woman who will put up with your shit." Ryan tells him.

"I will, just not right now," Rick says.

They say that looks can be deceiving and from what they saw on the outside of the house it was immaculate. That's not the story on the inside. It's like someone did a half-assed demolition and stopped halfway through it. There are no walls, all the wires are exposed for the electrical light switches and fixtures, and of all things, it feels like there is no heat here. Rick is not happy. He puts the tripod down and clears away a couch that's blocking his way to the front window. He looks to Ryan he has his hands open as if to catch something. Ryan catches on and tosses him the binoculars. He takes them out of the case and he looks across the street to Kate Beckett's house.

"Rick, what the hell did we do to deserve this?" Kevin asks as he surveys the mess in front of him.

"I think it was the stripper that we sent to the Captain for his birthday."

"Are you sure? I still think we should have sent the woman."

Rick chuckles "Yeah, I think you're right. So, I screwed up."

* * *

Jenny hears the phone ringing but is already up to her neck in making dinner. She and Sarah Grace have been spending their time together missing their daddy. She reaches for her phone on the counter and says hello.

"Hey, honey."

"Hi, Kevin. Where are you?"

"Well right now I am sitting in a house with no heat freezing my butt off looking at another house through a telescope on St. Paul Ave."

"You do know that what you're doing is illegal, don't you?

"Very funny. I hate these kinds of jobs. I still think this is payback for causing so much damage on the dock today and it wasn't even my fault."

"That does it! I am not sending Captain Montgomery a Christmas card this year." Jenny tells him with a little snicker.

Just then Rick walks in with a pizza box and two sodas.

"Hey, no personal calls," Rick says to Kevin when he sees him on the phone.

Kevin waves his hand at him trying to keep him quiet but Rick pulls his coat open and gives Kevin the gesture of him humping an imaginary woman by thrusting out his hips right in front of him.

"Rick says hi," Kevin says as he turns away from his partner.

"I know you said this one was going to be a long one but is there any way you can get away to see us?"

"I'm afraid not Jen. This is an FBI case. We're only helping them out."

"Kevin, your daughter will be full-grown by the time you get done with this one," Jenny complained.

"Yeah, I just hope that she'll remember me when it's over. Listen I need to go I just wanted to check in."

"I love you, Kevin."

"I love you too. Bye baby."

"Bye," Ryan says as he hangs up.

"Pizza! What took you so long?" Kevin asks.

"Do you know how hard it was to find a pizza joint that had a center Sicilian slice? I had to go to three pizza places to get what you wanted. So how are we doing?" Rick asks as he started to stare at the dark house across the street through the binoculars.

"She's still not home yet."

"I think we're in luck. It looks like we have every room covered… except for the bathroom."

"You know maybe you should give Gina a call," Kevin suggests.

"Nah. I'll only get her 'I'm not in the mood to talk to you' speech."

"I can call her do you want me to?"

"No that's okay I'll call her. I can handle my own love life."

Ryan hands Castle the phone and he dials his own number.

"Rick she's probably in bed with some other guy," Ryan tells him.

Then at the same time, they both say together "Poor bastard."

"Who are we watching anyway?" Rick asks his partner who is trying to pull his slice of pizza from the box as the phone rings with no answer so he hangs up after about fifteen rings.

"Her name is Katherine Houghton Beckett. Irish/Italian she is a waitress who is going to night school, but not this semester. She drives a 2007 Saturn Ion. She lives alone, long brown hair, hazel eyes, and is 5 feet 8 inches tall. WOW!"

"Wow what?" Rick asks.

"Your gonna love this."

"What? Come on tell me!"

"She tips the scales at 313 pounds!" Kevin finishes.

"Wait what? 313 pounds?" Rick asks as he walks over to where Kevin is sitting and grabs the file he is reading from.

"I would imagine that's fully clothed," Kevin suggests.

"Oh my god. Damn, she could be the house! This is disgusting I really hate this job." Rick says as he walks back to the window.

* * *

They have been there for hours and they are bored out of their minds. The night shift really sucks. Rick had a trivia test and was trying to trip up Kevin on the U.S. presidents in history by giving him their number. He hadn't got one wrong yet. Kevin gets up off the chair and looks over to the house they are watching. As he does, he sees an older Saturn pull up and park across the street.

"Hey, she drives a 2007 Saturn, right?" Ryan wonders.

"Yeah, why?" Rick asks.

"A light blue one?"

"Yeah."

"She's here!"

Rick jumps to his feet dropping the test he was giving Kevin to the floor. Kevin takes the binoculars and looks at Kate going up the stairs to her house.

"That's Kate?"

Kevin can only nod.

"Please turn around and show us your face." Rick hopes and prays that she will.

Kate dropped her keys behind her and she turns around to pick them up. Rick is mesmerized by her looks but more than that she is not as heavy as Kevin described from the file.

"It looks like she has lost a lot of weight."

"It looks that way." Kevin agrees as he watches Rick gawk at her. "Hey, Rick are you going to take some pictures or are you going to draw some?"

"Right, right sorry." He picks up the camera and focuses on her and starts to click away. Then he whispers to himself,_ "God she's cute."_

"It's 2:30. Go and put that in the log." Kevin tells Rick.

He moves over to the table and writes down what time she got home and then Rick asks "What's she doing now?"

"She's walking through the living room."

Kevin keeps on watching Kate through the binoculars and what he sees is something he does not want to tell Rick about.

"Kev, what's she doing now?" Rick asks again.

"She's walking towards her bedroom and taking off her clothes."

Rick threw down the logbook and flew over to the window. He looks at Kate through the camera lens and sees her turn around and pulls off her top revealing her smooth skin. She is not wearing a bra and she looks so beautiful. She pushes her bedroom door shut and Rick and Kevin can only whine that they can't see her anymore.

"To protect and serve, right partner?"

"I love my job so much!" Rick tells Kevin as he still looks through the viewfinder of the camera trying to catch a glimpse of Kate.

The next couple of hours end with nothing going on across the street. Kate took a shower and went to bed and has been there ever since. The day shift of Sully and Espo show up and Rick and Kevin give them a report on what happened last night.

"It's about time you guys got here. She came home around 2:30 in the morning and went to bed which is we are both going right now, separately of course." Rick said as he and Kevin walked down the stairs and out of the house.

* * *

Kate wakes up the next day from a hard night at work. She hates working so late on a Friday but the reason she does this is that the tips are worth working late. She pulled in an extra eighty bucks in tips. She stretches in her bed and she knows that she needs to get out of bed and start her day. Getting out of the bed naked she sees a car pull out of the house from across the street through the window and she wonders if there are new owners living there.

She has had enough time to get ready. She eyes the house across the street once more before she leaves her own house and sees that it's dark. Well maybe she won't bring a casserole over to welcome them to the neighborhood she'll wait for a little bit before she does that.

* * *

Rick took the car after he drove Kevin home to Jenny. As he pulled up to the loft, he found a parking spot right in front of his building. He gets out and then he sees the equipment pull up across the street. Con Ed and a construction company have decided to make his day a lot worse now. Hoping that its not what he thinks he walks across the street to ask what's going on.

"Hey, guys, what's going on here?"

"Well, we're here to cut the power to that building so that the construction company can demo it. It will take about two weeks to finish. That will make way for the new apartments that they are going to build." The foreman tells Rick.

"That's just great," Rick says sarcastically.

"Isn't it now?" The foreman says happily.

Rick just turns and leaves knowing that he will get no sleep today with all that noise going on. Maybe he should just get a hotel room.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

He sees the paperboy dropping off the morning paper and waits to get his. When he has it, he goes into the lobby of his building. He makes small talk with Eduardo while he waits for the elevator. When it arrives, he wishes the doorman a good day and steps into the elevator for the short ride up to his place. He pulls his keys from his pocket and unlocks the front door. The first thing he notices is that it's quiet. Too quiet. He removes his key from the lock and closes the door behind him. What he sees is not what he expected. There is nothing in the great room, absolutely nothing. The couch, love seats, and coffee table are all gone. There are U-Haul boxes lined up next to the fireplace with what he thinks are his clothes and personal stuff. As he moves closer to them, he is right. He sees all of his things in boxes lying on the floor. He slowly walks into the kitchen and sees that just about everything from the pots and pans to all the food that is also gone as well.

He says to no one within earshot "You've got to be kidding me."

The pictures that hung on the wall are gone. All of her cosmetics, body wash, shampoo, and conditioner are not in the bathroom where they were yesterday morning. Gina finally had enough of his shit and she moved out. And to think he was going to ask her to marry him. Well he wanted to, didn't he?

* * *

He hears the phone ringing and can't believe that someone would call and interrupt his sleep this soon. He works the night shift damn it. He reaches out for the phone and answers it.

"Yeah?"

"So the answer to the quiz about why Gina didn't answer the phone last night is that she moved out. I guess she had enough of my shit."

"Do you realize what time it is?" Kevin asks Rick.

"Yeah, it's daytime."

"You do know that we have to go back to work in about… six hours, right?" Kevin said as he looked at his watch.

"I know but I can't sleep. I tried."

"Why can't you sleep?"

"It's too damn bright."

"Well pull the shades closed then you idiot," Kevin suggests.

"I can't. She took them with her when she left."

All Kevin can do is laugh at his partner's dilemma.

"She took the shades?" Kevin asks through his laughter.

Jenny opens the door and sees her husband on the phone. Knowing that she should have got to the phone before it woke him up, she says,

"I'm sorry Kevin. I should have picked up the phone before you did."

"It's okay it's only Rick."

"I can tell that I woke you up do you want me to let you go back to sleep?"

"No that's OK." Just then Jenny reaches in and gives Kevin a nice kiss on the lips.

"Listen the fact that Gina left is terrible but there is nothing that you can do about it right now."

Rick who had been listening to Kevin being kissed by his wife picks up a bottle of Jim Beam and cleans the dust off it. He brings it up to his nose to take a sniff even though it's not open yet but he wants to open it so badly.

"Did you crack the seal yet?"

Rick can only sigh knowing that his partner knows him so well. "Nope."

"Well then put it back. Oh, and there is some good news we get to put the phone tap in today."

"Yippee!" Rick says.

Rick listens as Kevin starts kissing his wife and it is probably going to be a long make-out session that will lead to sex.

"Kevin kiss Jenny for me will you." Rick says and then he gets a dirty idea, "lower than that." Then he hangs up the phone.

Rick falls back onto the mattress that is missing the box spring and frame that must have been Gina's to he thinks to himself. And then the construction noise comes back even louder than before if that's at all possible.

* * *

Light rain has been falling for the past two hours in upstate New York. But ever since it has been raining Josh and Peter have been inside a roadside bar since before it started to rain.

"Josh I have a bad feeling about this."

"About what?"

"I don't know, it just feels like we're not gonna make it through this and we will both end up dead. The cops have to be looking for us by now and you're an escaped felon."

"You know Peter if they do kill us, I'm going to come back. I'll be reincarnated as a judge and then I will let all those guilty guys go."

"Listen all I want to do is get paid. I might be your brother but I want what's coming to me. I didn't do all this for nothing."

"Don't worry about it you will get paid and then if that's the way you want it, I'll never have to see your ass again." Josh was done with his little brother.

"Sorry. Do you still think she has all your money?"

"I know that she has all my money. And that's because she doesn't even know it's there. It's hidden in plain sight."

* * *

They had the authorization to put the phone tap on Kate's phone and Rick was outside of the house climbing the telephone pole across the street. He looked like your ordinary telephone repairman complete with the white cargo van to complete the look parked right outside of her house. It was a Verizon van that was seized when the driver was arrested for transporting drugs across Manhattan so they used it to their advantage. Verizon would get their van returned to them when this was finished.

Rick was able to see into her house and then the phone started ringing. He opened up the junction box and connected the handheld phone to the correct leads for her house. Once he did, he heard her talking with her mother.

"Mom I'm sure that there's some money for John's bail at his place. I will scrape up whatever I have here. I'm hanging up now. No mom I'm going now. Goodbye!" Kate just stood there and wondered what her mother was thinking or her brother for that matter! Arrested again? This was becoming a habitual thing with him.

Rick had connected the leads for the tap and caught the last part of Kate's conversation with her mother. He needed to act fast if he was going to place the micro listening devices on her phones.

In order to crossover the phone line so they can get all her calls recorded on their end in the house across the street Rick had to cut that tap in and cut away her phone lines after Kevin called. Rick watches from the pole as Kevin dial the number and to his surprise, Kevin gets a busy signal. Rick looks across the street from the pole and into Kates's kitchen and hears the phone ringing. It has to be after she answers the phone for him to cut the wires on the line at the junction box. The second he sees her pick up the phone he cuts the lines.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Kate."

Kate's whole body froze. She knew that voice and for what it mattered she never wanted to hear it again in her life. She wonders why he is calling and cannot come up with one decent reason he would be on the other end of this phone line.

"Guess who this is," Josh asks with a shit-eating grin on his face.

It's now when Rick finally cuts the last wire that completes the circuit or least, he thinks it does with to their wiretap. But what he did was cut the wire and hang up on Kate's call cutting Josh off before Kate could say a word.

She's left holding a dead phone and hopes that he does not come anywhere near her. Kate goes about getting whatever money she can to get her brother out of jail when she hears a knock on the front door. She's in a hurry in now someone is going to sell her some swampland down in Florida she bets.

Rick watches Kate is she leaves the kitchen and heads to what could be her bedroom. He quickly scampers down the pole takes off his pole climbing gear walks across the street to her house and knocks on the door.

Kate turns on the front porch light as she opens the front door and sees an older gentleman with a very large tool belt standing in front of her.

"Hi I'm sorry to disturb you but I'm from the phone company and there is a line problem in the neighborhood."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah is there something wrong with your phone?"

"There is. My phone went dead just two minutes ago. But what I can't believe is that you're already here. Anytime you have to get a hold of the phone company they usually take forever."

"Well the problem seems to be affecting the whole neighborhood so here I am."

"You know this isn't a good time for me right now I really have to get going."

"I totally understand. It would only take a couple of minutes but I guess we come back when you have some more time."

This was a gold mine she was not going to lose this guy for an appointment sometime two weeks from now so she decided to stop him from leaving.

"Can you wait a minute? I bet if I don't have it fixed now the next appointment you can get me into will be sometime in the next two weeks right?"

"Nah, five days max."

Kate stood there thinking about how she wouldn't have a phone if she doesn't let this guy in and do his thing. And since it's only gonna be a couple of minutes maybe she should let him in to fix her phone.

Kevin who has been watching the entire meeting through the binoculars narrates along.

_"Come on Kate, how can you resist him?"_

"Can you promise it's only going to be a couple of minutes?" Kate asks.

"I promise," Rick tells her honestly.

"Well, then I guess it's okay. There are two phones. One in the kitchen and one in my bedroom."

Rick walks by her and gives Ryan an inconspicuous thumbs up as he moves to climb the stairs to the apartment.

_"Bingo. Not bad for an old fart."_ Kevin says.

Once they were in her apartment Kate pointed to the phone in the kitchen. Rick looked at where she was pointing and got to work.

"I shouldn't be that long and I'll try to get out of your hair as fast as I can."

"That's fine. There is one phone in the kitchen and one in the bedroom."

Rick nodded and got to work. He did notice that this Kate was a bit flustered as he passed her.

* * *

Kate watched this guy as he tried to fix her phone. He was older but he was cute. As he pushed some buttons on her phone, she gave him a timid smile and he had returned it right back. She gave him a look when he lifted the receiver up and put it to his ear not hearing a dial tone. But her observation of him could wait for now. She needed to clean up her bedroom from last night. She's sure that there are some of her clothes lying on her bed and she can't let him see her underwear. She gives him another smile and leaves for her bedroom.

The earbud that Rick has buried deep in his ear comes alive with his partner's voice.

_"Hey, partner."_

Rick gives him a wave as he unscrews the mouthpiece of Kate's phone.

_"She's in the bedroom cleaning up her room. Hey, maybe she is thinking that she'll get lucky!"_

Rick just gives his partner the finger and places the transmitting device on the phone.

_"Wait a second… she's coming back out. Are you done there?"_

Rick nods quickly and then Kate is back in the kitchen.

"Okay, everything checks out fine here. Can I see the next one?"

"Sure follow me."

Kate walks with just a little more sway in her hips just to see if he notices. When she stops at the foot of her bed, he almost runs into her. At least he was looking at her ass she thinks to herself.

Rick is mesmerized by the shape and wiggle of her ass as she walks towards the bedroom. If he's not careful he might jump her right there on her bed. She comes to a stop suddenly and he has to avoid running over her. He comes to his senses and walks on towards the phone.

She smiles at him and watches him as he works. She knows that she needs to get to the police station to help her brother out so she leaves him in her bedroom to see how much cash she has on hand.

_"It's me,"_ Kevin says as Rick sits down on her bed to install the second listening device in her phone.

_"She's in the kitchen and it looks like she's counting out some cash."_

Rick finishes his work on her phone and sees an opportunity to snoop and he does. He opens her nightstand drawer and pulls out a newspaper article about Josh Davidson.

_"Rick now is not the time to be going through her stuff. She's right in the next room!"_

Rick has other ideas and gets up off the bed to start searching other parts of her room. Kevin can see a disaster in the making.

_"Rick what are you doing? Where are you going? You do know that she is in the house, right? Stop screwing around and get out of there NOW!"_

Kate has been patiently waiting for the telephone repairman to get done fixing her phone by pacing in her kitchen. She has some cash for her brother and maybe the rest she can get from her mother but she needs to leave right now.

_"If you get us pulled off this detail, I'm going to kill you. God damn it Rick stop looking at her underwear and get the hell out of there."_

Kevin watches Kate as she starts to move towards her bedroom. She needs to leave right now.

_"Oh shit. She's heading your way Rick get out of her dresser now. She's turning the corner…_"

Rick knew that he was pushing it and heard her footsteps coming closer. He rushed over to the bed, leaped in mid-air twisted his body so he was facing the bedside table. As he landed on the bed he grabbed the phone and pulled out a screwdriver with his other hand from his tool belt making her believe that he was fixing her phone in one swift move. Seeing her enter her bedroom she says,

"Look I really need to get going. I know that you said it would only take five minutes but I really need to leave."

"Is there a problem?"

Kate didn't want to air her family's dirty laundry out to a stranger but this guy had something about him that made her trust him. So reluctantly she told him about her brother.

"Ah.. my brother is in jail at the police station and there's bail that I need to post for him to get out of jail there's so much to do. I'm really sorry."

"Is it something serious?"

"Yeah, I think it is… this time. Listen could you come back? I'll make an appointment but I'd like you to come back if that's possible."

"No need. I'm all finished."

"Wait, you fixed it?"

"Not really. The phones in here are all okay. I'm betting that the problem is outside on the pole. I going to need to check it to make sure."

"Oh."

They simply stood there just looking at each other. There was an awkwardness about the space they shared but just as soon as it started it was over.

"Okay, then thanks a lot for what you've done here."

"No problem. Have a great night."

Rick heads for the door with Kate following behind him. He makes it to the door and turns one last time to look at her. She is a beauty he'll say that much. He makes it to the pole across from her house and starts to climb it. When he is about halfway up the pole he watches as she gets into her car and drives away. But before she does, she gives him a friendly wave goodbye. He returns the wave and when she's out of sight he climbs back down the pole.

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

Rick climbs the stairs to the rented house that they are watching Kate from. Once he gets to the top of the stairs, he tells his partner,

"I'm in love Kevin, and I'm leaving you."

He needs to pee so he heads to the bathroom and relieves himself.

"This happens to one in every six men. I have to face my heterosexuality. But don't worry you'll be taken care of I promise."

"What were you thinking? Oh, wait you weren't thinking! Well, you might have been thinking but you weren't using the brain in your head! You were thinking with your dick."

"Calm down. The taps are in place and she didn't suspect a thing."

"You could have been caught going through her stuff and what would you have done then?"

"Calm down will you? I didn't get caught for crying out loud so don't blow a gasket."

Rick walks back to the front window to make sure Kate had left. The spot where her car was now empty and then he has another brilliant idea.

"She's gone. Give me that flashlight I'm going to go back over there to check it out."

Kevin reaches for the flashlight but holds it away from Rick.

"No, no, no, no, no. I can see it in your eyes."

"No?"

"NO! Rick this in an FBI investigation I'm not going to let you go over there and risk my job just so you can sniff her panties. It's an illegal procedure and I want nothing to do with it."

"An FBI investigation? Illegal procedure? Don't worry you won't get fired over what I do now give me the god damned flashlight. Besides what's the worst thing that could happen to you? You get suspended for what… three years?"

"Oh, that's just great!"

"Oh come on. I'm only kidding. God, you always take things so seriously. Lighten up a little will ya? I was only trying to inject a little humor into the situation and you go all serious on me." Rick says as he walks back down the stairs with the flashlight.

"You know that you're an asshole, right?"

* * *

Having seen the inside of her home he was confident that he could navigate her place in the dark. He climbs up to the bedroom window and pushes it in to open it just enough to slip inside. Little did Kevin know but he had already made up his mind earlier when he was in "fixing" the phones to come back and he had unlocked the window above her bed. He pushed the window open and dropped down on top of her bed then hopping to the floor.

"Kev, are you there?" He says over the radio.

_"You in?"_

"I'm in."

_"Then hurry up."_

Rick continued where he was only fifteen minutes ago and moves right to her dresser. He opens the bottom drawer and starts going through her clothes. Then he sees it. It's an old shoebox with at least one hundred letters inside of it. He pulls out the box and sits down on her bed. He has the flashlight trained on the pile of letters and pulls out the stack. He positions the flashlight between his shoulder and his cheek to be able to use both hands. The first letter he pulls out is in the middle of the pile. The second he starts to read the outside of the envelope he hears Ryan's voice come over the radio.  
_  
"Car!"  
_  
Rick douses the flashlight and gets flat on the floor in a split second not wanting to be seen. The car passes and Ryan comes back on the air.

_"Sorry, sorry._

"Sorry? You are making me very nervous."

_"I'm making you nervous? That's original."_

Rick goes back to the box on the bed and picks up the envelope he had before the car scare. He starts reading the letter hoping that this letter is probably the one with the most information.

"Okay, I think I have something important here. Okay, listen to this." Rick says over the radio as he flattens out one of the letters Davidson sent to Kate.

"This one is dated four months ago from Davidson and is the most recent one here." Rick starts reading the letter to Kevin.

"Dear Kate,

First, you stop coming to me here at the prison and then you stop writing to me. I understand that you're lonely. Maybe you are seeing a couple of guys there in the city. When I think that sometimes I get so mad that I could take out a couple of guys in a fight here in the jail and I'd be happy about doing it."

_"Now how could she dump a Romeo like this guy?_

"Wait a second, hey get a pad and pen there's something here that we could look into. He has a buddy here in the city with the initials of G. C. he lives in Manhattan and he worked on Wall Street. Then he goes on about some furniture that he gave her for her birthday and does she still have it because it's very important to him. Then he goes on and on about some other bullshit that's not important to us."

* * *

Kate who had been down to the jail found out that her brother could not be released just yet due to the paperwork that had to be filled out. It would take another couple of hours to complete at the most a day. She had to go to work and being here was wasting her time. She got back into her car and drove back home. She was fortunate that her spot on the street was still open and she pulls into it with ease. She shuts her car off hops out and shuts the door. She's climbing the stairs to her home.

Kevin was writing down everything that Rick was telling him. The problem was that he couldn't write as fast as Rick could talk. He was in the middle of a sentence when the glare from a mirror reflected in his eyes from the street light across the street. His eyes went wide looking at the Saturn that just pulled up. When the occupant got out and closed the car door his eyes practically fell out of their sockets. It was Kate and she was climbing up the stairs to her house.

_"OH SHIT!"_

"What?"

_"Get out of the house! Now. She's climbing the stairs now. Get out of the fucking house Rick!"_

Rick gathers up the other letters that were on the bed and tosses them back in the box. Knowing Kevin like he does he slows down because he thinks that this is payback for earlier. He picks up the radio and says,

"Are you fucking with me?"

_"NO, I'm not fucking with you. Get out of the damn house!"_

Rick had decided that his partner was not screwing with him and he picked up the box shoved it back into the dresser drawer and closed it. He looked to his left and found out that he had an easy way to get out of her apartment. There was a door that led to the deck and a stairway then he'd be home free. Just as he reached for the door handle the hallway light came on. Then he heard her footsteps coming up the stairs. He looked at the window he came into the apartment in and decided that he would be caught trying to get his ass through the window before she got to her bedroom. That left only one place for him to hide. He goes under the bed. He takes a flashlight and puts it in front of him and squats down roll under her bed. When he does, he is hidden very well and he thinks this is a good hiding spot. He sees her walk in go to her closet and pull out something. What he has no idea.

From under the bed, he picks up the flashlight and he knows he's missing something else. The radio he was talking to Kevin on is now somewhere on her bed and he has to find it before she does. She turns and heads into the bathroom and starts the water for what must be a shower. He runs his hand along the side of the mattress to try and find the radio before she gets back but has no luck. Then the fun starts happening. Her shoes come off her feet and fly under the bed then her socks join them. Rick being very curious moves his body closer to the edge of the bed almost exposing himself. Then her pants drop right in front of him. He angles his head to look up and sees her pulling off her shirt. That ends up on the floor as well. He feels like a peeping Tom but being that he is in her house he isn't a peeping Tom he's just a pervert. She turns away and starts heading towards the bathroom in just her panties and a bra. Then the music starts flooding the bathroom. The Miami Sound Machine comes on full blast with The Rhythm is Gonna Get You. He hears the curtain being pulled back and slid back in place. Now is his chance to get out of her house.

* * *

Ryan has been scanning the apartment with his binoculars and the telescope and can't find Rick anywhere. He's getting worried that this is going to be something that will get him fired. He just hopes Rick knows what he's doing. What is going on over there? Where the hell is he? Ryan asks himself as he looks through the telescope.

* * *

He gets out from under the bed finds the damn radio he left on her bed and heads for the door to leave. But something in him wants to see her. He puts the radio in its holder on his hip and eases his way back to the bathroom door. The beat of the music gets him to start moving his body towards the bathroom in a conga kind of way. He leans against the door jam in stretches his head around it to see her standing in the shower then he stops moving. Even as he looks through the see-through curtain, he can tell that she is beautiful. He can't take his eyes off of her. She has a very firm ass her breasts are just the right size for what he wants in a woman. He stares at her for a good 45 seconds to a minute watching her clean up. Then she turns off the water and steps out of the shower and he sees her in the flesh. He was wrong, she's not beautiful she is a goddess. She wraps her nude body in a terrycloth robe and then knowing that he will be caught if he stays there any longer he turns and leaves for the doorway in her bedroom. He opens the door and closes it quietly and then he's gone.

Kevin watches through the telescope as Rick makes a break for the door in her bedroom. The second he's through the door Kate comes out of the bathroom in a robe drying her hair with a towel. He got out just in time because she didn't suspect a thing. He really can't be doing this kind of shit anymore and he'll tell him about it when he gets back.

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

**This is being posted early for a reason. See A/N below.**

Rick is rudely awakened by the asshole next door. Now of all times he now decides to work on his motorcycle and he's revving up the engine louder and louder and louder. He knows that this is his day off and he will deal with the next-door neighbor very soon. But before he does that, he has to put a plan into motion that he hopes will get him on Kate's good side. He reaches for his phone and drags himself back up to make a call. Once the call connects, he starts his request.

"Sergeant Davis this is Rick Castle."

"Rick, how are you?" Davis asks.

"I'm fine, how are you?"

"I'm doing good. What can I do for you?"

"That's great. I need you to run a guy through the system and see if he has any open warrants. I also need his record and check it for anything."

"What's the guy's name?"

"John, John Beckett."

"I will have it in your inbox by the end of shift."

"Thanks, Bill."

"Anytime Rick get some sleep you sound like you need it."

* * *

The next night at the rented house Rick and Kevin are arguing about the Kennedy assassination of all things.

"There is no way Rick!" Kevin exclaims.

"No way?"

"No. No way that one bullet could have caused that much damage to his head."

"No way? What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about one bullet that came from the grassy knoll and the other came from a building on the sixth floor. How stupid can you be?"

"All right you're telling me that a chief justice of the United States lied? That Gerald Ford and all those other people lied?"

Rick pulled a picture of Kate out of a manilla envelope and gave it a good look. God, she was stunning even if this was a surveillance picture with her blinds covering her partially. He hangs it up near the stairway so he can look at her anytime he wants to.

Kevin had walked to the fridge to get a drink. The second he opened the door the stench of shit assaulted his nose.

"Those bastards!"

"What?

"They ate everything we had on our shelf of the fridge and Esposito's stupid dog took a dump on one of the plates and he left it in the fridge."

"I swear I'm going to get those guys back."

"Why do you care? Stop acting like you're five years old. Give me the keys to the car and I'll go get us something to eat. What do you want?"

"How about some truth and justice?" Kevin says as he gives Rick the keys to the car.

"What else would you like because I know that the food store has run out of both truth and justice."

"Donuts."

"I can see that. We are cops after all."

* * *

Rick pulls up to a bodega that's close to the house that they are temporally living in. he gets pout of the car and walks into the store. This store has more t offer than most other corner stores. There are fresh fruits and veggies outside, flowers and assorted small items. He picks up a red shopping basket and starts to pick up a couple of things. By the time he has everything, he moves to the front of the store to check out. On his way he sees the donuts he forgot to pick up for Kevin. He grabs a box of mixed glazed and chocolate covered and places them in the basket. He turns the aisle and looks up at the register. Then he sees her standing at the register. He can't resist. He's like a magnet and she's steel. He strides up to her and just stands there waiting for her to notice that he's standing right beside her. She looks to her right and sees him.

"Hey hi! You're the phone man."

"Hi and I am. How's your phone?"

"It's still working. So, you're working in my neighborhood?"

"No. But I'm in the area though…working."

"Oh, so there are lines down?"

"Aren't there always? Can I ask you if you are satisfied with the service I provided for you the other night?"

Boy Kate had thought she'd heard them all but this guy was trying a little too hard.

"You really are a phone man aren't you?"

"I am, but why would you say that?"

"Because you're still working on another line." Kate let a small laugh out at the end of her comment and Rick just smiled. "Get it?"

"Got it."

"Good."

The cashier was finished ringing up Kate's order and gave her the total. She pulled out her wallet and gave the cashier a twenty bill for what totaled seventeen dollars and fifty-two cents. The cashier gave her back the change and she put it back in her wallet. She gathered up her bags and turns to leave. Rick just stares at her hoping that she'll ask him something and when she doesn't, he tells her,

"I hope that your phone breaks very soon."

"If it does would you promise to come and fix it?" Kate asks.

"I promise."

Kate turns and leaves with her bags. As she steps outside a loud thunderclap sounds off. The threat of rain is evident but it's not raining yet. She needs to get home quickly before she gets soaked. She loads up all her bags in the basket of her bike and rolls her bike away from the bike stand. As she does, she notices her rear tire is flat. Now she will get wet walking her bike all the way home. She sees the phone guy walking out of the bodega with his bags, get into his car and shut the door. Then she has an idea and hope's he won't turn her down.

"Wait a minute, don't leave."

Rick looks up as he starts the car and sees Kate rolling her bike towards him. He can't imagine what she wants now.

"I was hoping that you might give me a ride home. I'm not that far from here and you did say that you were working in the neighborhood I'm sorry I never asked you your name."

"Um, ah, well, ah… It's Bill."

"Hi Bill, I'm Kate. Maybe we could make a trade. I'll make you some dinner if you do this for me."

Dinner. It had been a while since he's had a home-cooked meal. Why not.

"Okay," Rick tells her as he gets out of the car so he can put her bike in the trunk of the unmarked police car.

* * *

Kevin is using his finger to pull out the last of the peanut butter in the bottom of the jar. Rick has been gone for the past 45 minutes and he wonders what the hell is keeping him so long. He walks over to the window and sees nothing out of the ordinary until that is their unmarked police car pulls up in front of the house their supposed to be watching. Of course, Rick would be in the car and when he gets out, he curses him because he is supposed to be bringing groceries back here and now it looks like he gave their possible suspect a ride home. Can this get any worse?

He watches Rick through the telephoto lens and he is making all kinds of faces back at him. He really can't believe how badly he wants this woman.

* * *

Rick lets Kate climb the stairs and he follows carrying the bike. He leaves it on the porch and then follows her in. The second that they are in her kitchen he asks if he can use her phone. He calls Kevin in the house across the street.

"Yeah." Kevin answers.

"Hi!"

Kevin stops the recording of this phone call by turning off the recorder. Then Rick continues.

"Look I'm going to be a little late. I stopped off to have dinner with a friend.

"No, no don't worry about it. Stay and have dessert. Nothing is going on here but boring police work." Kevin says sarcastically.

Rick knows that his partner is watching him through the telescope and looks right at him and says,

"Great. Great. How is that forklift that's now at the bottom of the East river? I'll be about a half-hour."

"Where are my donuts you prick?"

"Just for that crack, I might be an hour maybe more." Rick hangs up the phone and gives Kevin a dirty look then turns to Kate who is gathering food to cook for dinner. Seeing that she is busy with that he decides to help her out a little by putting her groceries away for her.

He finishes putting the salt away above the stove and she says,

"You know… you're a nice guy."

Rick stops what he is doing and groans. "No! Don't say that. Please."

"Why? You are. You gave me a ride home, you put all my groceries away, and you fixed my phone. Your nice."

"I know, I know, I know. I'm nice. I hate that. It's a curse."

Kate opens the refrigerator and huffs at him as she pulls out a packaged salad and takes the salad bowl from him.

"I always wanted to be bad."

"Do you think being bad is good?"

"Well yeah. I always wanted a little bad you know it might make my nice just a bit little better."

Kate is shaking her head at what he is thinking as she is tossing the salad.

"Let me fill you in about being bad. It's not all that it's cracked up to be. Bad is bad and right now I'd settle for a little nice. I think."

Kate walks past Bill and places the salad bowl on the table. She leans her back against the countertop and gives him a sultry look.

Rick knows when something might happen and decides to be honest with her and himself.

"Just what exactly is going on here?"

"Dinner. I made a spicy, very spicy dish that you might like. Do you like spicy?"

Rick doesn't know how to read her. She's acting like they've been going out for months but in all honesty, they've only just met. So he decides to go with the flow. He looks across to the other house that Kevin is now sitting in and decides that he can wait another half hour for him to get there.

"I love spicy!"

"Well, you're going to want to marry me after you taste this," Kate says as she walks by to place the meal on the table.

Kevin who had been looking through the telescope knowing that Rick was looking at him and not knowing it. He knew that he was going to be alone for the next half hour to 45 minutes. So to kill time Kevin starts throwing darts at the picture of their suspect Josh Davidson hanging on the wall. He's a pretty good shot because he already nailed him three times in the head.

Kate had made up some pasta to go along with the spicy dish she had. Then she and Bill sat down and ate and talked and laughed. She loved his laugh. He had told her some really funny jokes and she couldn't stop laughing. Maybe it was because she was with him and he was making her laugh that she just couldn't stop giggling.

Rick, on the other hand, knew that Kevin was watching what he was doing. He kept hamming it up for his benefit knowing that he was stuck over there and Rick was eating a great meal.

"I can't believe this. He's over there eating like a king and I don't even have my donuts yet."

Once their plates are clear Rick waves to Kevin and salutes him with a glass of wine. Automatically Kevin wants to kill him.

* * *

After their dinner was finished Kate wanted to get to know Bill a little better.

"I was born on The Day of the Dead. It's a very big deal in Italian culture. Some people like to make fun of it and take it seriously at the same time. So every year on my birthday someone in my family gives me a miniature skeleton. And now after all this time, I have a whole graveyard full of skeletons." Kate jiggles the skeleton that's sitting on a headstone in front of Bill with a soft smile.

"You must have a very big family."

My brother, my younger brother still lives at home with my mother well for this week anyway. And I have a ton of relatives who still live in Italy."

"Speaking of your brother... I happen to know a couple of cops. I could ask around you know maybe find out what's going on with him?"

"Would they tell you anything?"

"Yeah if they want their phones to work they will."

"Oh, that's nice. Oh, there's that word again I'm sorry."

It was like a stand-off. They were staring at each other and they knew they wanted more but they couldn't jeopardize what they had already built upon and now they were just looking at each other's eyes. She knew that if she let it go any further she would drag him to her bedroom and have her way with him.

"I like your smile," Kate told him.

Rick/Bill hid his smile and wanted to move onto something else. She gets up from the table and walks to the counter. Rick follows her but the counter is now between them.

"Let me ask you a question."

"What Mr. Bill?"

"Why do you know so much about being bad?"

"Well a long time ago, there was a man I was involved with who was crazy, insane, dangerous even and a very bad person. And I was insane, insane I tell you because I was with him for a while but it's all over now."

"Did you love him?"

"It was crazy what we had, but no I didn't."

"Where is he now?"

"Why are you asking?"

"Why do you think?"

They just look at each other and Rick/Bill needs to stop this before it gets out of hand.

"I think I have to go."

"And I need to get ready for work. I have the late shift tonight at the diner."

Rick passes Kate and she gives him a very seductive look as they stand close to each other. He wants to kiss her but he stops himself only because if he does start kissing her it will lead to something he won't want to stop.

"Do you want to know what the best thing you said tonight was?

"What?"

"You told me that you liked my smile."

Rick gives her a look and turns to head towards the stairs. He gives her a wave and he says,

"I know, I know, I'm nice." As he starts down the stairs he tells her one last little bit of information,

"But I'm not that nice."

Kate watches as he descends the stairs and even though he can't see her she gives him a wave and a small smile. Tonight was a good night for her.

* * *

Rick leaves her house and needs to take the long way around the block so he is not seen by Kate going into the house across the street. He can't get involved with her because this is an ongoing operation. Maybe after it's over he might be able to but not now.

He enters through the back door of the house just to be sure he is not seen. Climbing the stairs he does a really bad impersonation of Ricky Ricardo.

"Honey, I'm home!"

Kevin was sitting in the Barco lounger facing the window just staring out.

"I met her at the store. What was I supposed to do pretend that I'd never seen her before?"

Kevin just stares at him and Rick wonders when he will start yelling. But before he can say a word Rick adds more fuel to the fire.

"We are supposed to be watching the house right? But for the last hour, I was doing it from the inside."

Rick can see that Kevin is not happy. Maybe if he gives him the food he asked for he might loosen up a little. He places the donuts on his lap along with a can of Pringles, and a package of Oreo's. Then he sees the anger in him bubble up to the surface.

"Tell me, Rick, when are you two going to see each other again? Maybe go to a movie?"

"Oh come on Kev give me a break! She just made me some dinner."

"Nothing more to it?"

"Nothing. Rick tells him and walks away. But before he can get less than five feet away Kevin sounds off.

"You're a liar Rick."

Rick stops in his tracks wondering why his friend and partner would call him a liar. He doesn't need to wait long before he finds out.

"Sergeant Davis called earlier when you were wooing her over dinner. He told me to tell you that John Beckett was arrested on the 3rd for GTA. Gee that wouldn't be any relation to your dream girl across the street would it?"

"Kevin give me a break. She told me that her brother was in jail and I thought it was a lead. I had him checked out that's all."

Kevin was playing an imaginary violin while Rick gave him his excuse.

"A lead?"

"Yeah, a lead."

"Okay fine. You're telling me that you're checking out a lead and I'm going to believe that you're…

"Checking out a lead." Rick finished for him.

"You know I realize that this is a shit detail…"

"You don't have to tell me that Kevin. And trust me nobody gives a shit what we do here other than the FBI."

"That's right. But what I would appreciate is that you don't act like a walking hard-on when we are working together."

Rick stands there in a state of semi shock. His partner just called him out. He has no come back for that but says,

"Succinctly put."

Kevin heads to the fridge to get some milk to go with his Oreo's.

TBC

**A/N 1: This side note is for LanguageXLover and UndercoverBeta, and all the Guests to whom I can not respond to directly only because the PM feature is disabled on the two first members and everyone knows that you can't reply to a guest here due to their not having an account. I just wish that we could talk via PM. If you're still reading then that's good you will be able to read my response to your reviews. If you're not then you'll never know what I am going to say. Oh well, your loss.**

**This story is a work of fiction. The characters contained in it are not as the writers of the show Castle would portray them. No, what you are reading is an A/U or alternate universe story. And if you think about this the story you are reading most likely has been seen by all of you at one time on the big screen or in the comfort of your own homes.**

**Yes, I said the big screen. This story is based on a movie titled Stake Out released in 1987. It stars Richard Dreyfus who I have made Richard Castle. Madeline Stowe who is Kate Beckett. Emilio Estevez who is Kevin Ryan. There are other characters from the show who are in support roles taken from the movie.**

**In the movie, Richard Dreyfus plays a Seattle cop who has lost his girlfriend because of the long hours his job requires. He fights with his boss and has a very hard time taking orders from anyone. Even his partner wants to strangle him. So right from the start, this character is flawed and he comes off this way in the movie. If you notice in season 1 of Castle, Nathan Fillion who played Richard Castle had said in a couple of interviews that he (the character he plays) is a womanizer and signed women's chests at book signings. He was a playboy. Would he like to see Kate Beckett in her birthday suit? I betting that he would. He even said that Rick Castle stood for Rich Asshole in another interview.**

**There is no way that you would have made the comments you made in your review if you have seen this movie. But the fact that a writer here has adopted the movie into a story that includes some of the Castle cast and instead of plagiarizing the script by copying it word for word they added additional script dialogue to show humor or angst or even something that describes the character to the reader shows me that you can only tell me that I have missed the mark. This is sad.**

**If I had taken out the scene with Dreyfus/Castle and Stowe/Beckett in her bathroom while she was showering to appease your peace of mind would it make any sense to you later as to how their relationship progressed? Or even started for that matter? That scene was the turning point for Dreyfus/Castle. He is falling in love with her because of his voyeurism.**

**Sure it was a violation of her privacy and I am in agreement with all of you. But tell me something...if you were sitting in a theater in 1987 watching this movie eating your popcorn and drinking your soda did you shout out at the screen "That's a misdemeanor, or you're invading her privacy?" When you watched that scene? I am sure that you didn't. So why are you doing it here? Just because this is in written form it doesn't differ that much from the movie.**

**As a writer here it is not always easy to come up with ideas that people like to read. And the ones we do have the courage to post here, there have been hours and hours of research done to get it all right. Some writers use songs and movies to tell a story. I have done this a couple of times but I have never been dismissed by reviewers like I was by you. Read this or don't at this point I don't care anymore. Congrats!**

**A/N 2: Jane if you are still reading this (and I hope you are or this is only taking up space) I am going to include your review with the others who have reviewed above. I'm sorry that you feel this way but did you think about what you would be seeing in the movie and apply it to the events in today's society now? If you did, that is a shame.**

**I am betting that there will be no replies to what I have just written here to show my point of view and that in itself is sad. Since this story has met with readers who can't be objective in what they are reading as of 3/1/2020 Sunday at midnight EST this story will be removed since it offends so many people. To the people who have read this and are enjoying it, you have my sincerest apologies. **

**P2P**


	8. Chapter 75 Apology

First, I would like to say that this is not a new chapter. But it is a response to all the reviews I have received over the past 24 hours after posting chapter 7. I am not going to pull the story off Fan Fiction's website. But I feel that I need to be responsible in how I write this story because it apparently has touched on memories or feelings that have upset a lot of people here. This was never my intention. But at the same time, I should have realized that there were scenes in the movie that I converted into a written form that could have been taken as a trigger to bring up those bad memories for certain readers.

This was also not a stunt to get people to send me reviews to get readership up for the stories I have here on the site. I would never do that. I was thinking that if I pulled the story it would not offend anybody any longer. What I did not take into consideration were the concerns that some people have and that was my goal by telling the readers that I would remove this story. If I read something that offended me on FF, I would simply just stop reading it. Now I know that I cannot please everybody but I was really upset when I read the reviews that certain people who are reading this that doubted my integrity. I have integrity, but common sense seems to have evaded me.

I'm a product of the late 50s and early 60s that's when I grew up. My father before he passed away instilled a standard that I live by to this day. Women are equal to men plain and simple. They are to be respected. And by that, I mean they can do the same thing as men can and they should be treated as such. However, women must also be treated with respect, care, and of course love. They are the reason that we are who we are as men. In my eyes, while women are equal to men, they are put up a step higher from us because they are in my mind the fairer sex. I will always treat a woman with respect. This is why I was upset when I read the guest named Jane's review. I'm sure that there are other people out there who have had a similar type of encounter with someone that they didn't want. But stupid me who doesn't really pay attention to what's going on in the world around me didn't put two plus two together. (either that or I am too emotional) I'm sure that Harvey Weinstein didn't get what he deserved, in my mind, I think he should have been thrown in jail and never released along with anyone else who has done this to women.

There are guest reviewers here who have brought up some excellent points of view. These points of view will not go unheeded. I'm especially indebted to UndercoverBeta and the guest who call themselves Consider This. Both of you bring up points that I will take to heart. I am not able to respond to the guest reviews (as much as I would like to) but maybe I will respond to them the way I used to in the form of an A/N at the end of each chapter.

What I should have done originally when I posted the description for the story was to tell you that it was directly from a movie. And you're right maybe that would have stopped people from reading it in the first place and becoming upset. But I didn't and that's on me, my bad. But what I will do before I post any other chapter for the story is to watch the movie in its entirety once again. As it is now, I have watched this movie over 20 times in order to get everything just right. The reason I'm going to watch it straight through again is to remove any scenes that might be offensive to anybody reading this from this point forward. I just hope that it won't take anything away from the story And, by that I mean hopefully you can follow along with a scene that I have removed without that much trouble.

This has been very eye-opening for me and I hope that everyone who was upset with this story can see it in their hearts to forgive me for being a real inconsiderate ass.

P2P


	9. Chapter 9

They were almost there and only had about three hours to go before they got to the city. They were running low on gas and had no money to fill the tank with. The only reason they don't have any money was that they were both starving and used all they had left to eat a decent meal at a roadside diner.

"Stop over there," Peter told Josh as he pointed to a gas station that looked like a good place to rob.

Josh could see that there were no security cameras anywhere as he pulled up to the gas pumps this place was a goldmine.

"Peter fill the tank and I'll take care of the guy inside. Are you hungry?"

"I could do with a bag of chips and a Mountain Dew."

Josh got out of the car and could tell that this gas station had hardly any customers. He pulled open the door and gave the clerk a nod and went to the back of the aisle to get what he needed.

Peter was busy filling the car with gas and quickly raised his head many times looking out for cops. He watched a red pickup truck go by and then he turned his head to the left where he saw his brother holding up a gun against the head of the clerk inside the store. He scanned the surrounding area one more time to make sure that there were no cops coming their way.

Josh who knew the clerk was probably shiting his pants right now because he had a gun pointed to his head and would do anything he said. Josh kept taking stuff off the shelves while the clerk watched him and his last demand was that he grabbed something off the top shelf that was too high for him to reach. When the clerk turned to get the item and Josh took the butt of his nine-millimeter and slammed it into the back of his skull knocking him unconscious. He opened the register and took whatever cash was inside of it and made for the door.

Peter who had finished pumping the gas and hung the nozzle up into the pump started getting nervous when he saw a blue Ford Focus pull into the gas station and stop. At that time Josh was just coming out of the door and he slid the open to closed sign to read closed. The man who was in the car got out and past Josh who in turn said,

"Sorry man we're closed."

With Peter already in the car, Josh quickly got into the driver's seat and they took off out of the parking lot. The man in the Focus knew that the store wasn't closed and entered the store. What he found was his friend Jimmy on the floor unconscious and bleeding.

* * *

Peter counted the money that Josh had taken from the register and they ended up with $272 in cash. And they also had a full tank of gas so all in all they did pretty good. Now all they needed to do was get to the city and they would be there in less than a couple of hours. As Josh drove away Peter couldn't help to think about the clerk that his brother obviously killed. So he called his brother out on it.

"Tell me Josh did you really have to kill that guy back there?"

"What? Listen for your information I didn't kill him. I don't need another murder on my hands to deal with. I only cold-cocked him so calm down."

Peter sat there hoping that this would be over and soon because he really hadn't thought this through.

* * *

Rick watched as the holding cop brought John Beckett into the interrogation room. Rick was always good at reading people and what he saw here was someone who was very unsure or even afraid of what was going to happen to him next.

Rick motioned to the younger Beckett to sit and he did. When he looked at Rick he took the offensive right from the start.

"Okay, so what did I do now?"

Rick knew that he was trying to get the upper hand and he was just afraid of him. When he was ready to talk he would.

"Jonathan right?" Rick asks.

"I prefer John."

"I heard that you got yourself into a little bit of trouble."

"So what. Are you a cop?"

Rick just looked at him with a knowing look then said,

"Are you a criminal?"

He was quick to answer.

"No, I'm not. This girl's father has it in for me."

"He does? Why?"

"He doesn't want me to see his daughter."

"She must be pretty precious to him. Did you ever think that his reason was a good one? Maybe he's protecting her."

"I did, but I love her too."

"Is that why you stole the car?"

"We thought that we could get away with it. It seems that I was wrong and stupid."

"I'd say that you were."

"It's not very pleasant in there is it?" Rick asks as he points to the holding area.

"Why do you care?"

"It's simple. I just wanted to know what kind of guy you are before I get you out of here."

John's face went slack and his mouth dropped open. He couldn't believe what he just heard.

"Get me out? I can't take another night in this place. Why would you do that?"

Rick looks at him and thinks a bit before he asks his next question. He puts down his coffee cup and walks over to where John is sitting.

"Tell me something, do you like working with your hands? Have you ever worked like a mechanic or a tradesman?"

John just nods not knowing what to expect.

"Listen, I have a guy who's looking for a laborer and he needs someone that can start on Monday. It's at a construction site and you'll be working there from 7 am to 5:30 pm 5 days a week and you need to be home when you're done. I'll be checking in on you from time to time. Every night! Take this and you're out of here, screw with me and you are right back in here. That's the deal. It's hard work but it will keep you on the up and up. Deal?"

"Deal."

Rick shakes his hand to make it official and he leaves the interrogation room to dismiss the paperwork to kick him loose.

When he leaves the door closes behind him and then he sees the son of a bitch who got away at the fish factory. He walks up to look him over and says,

"What rock did they find you under?"

This guy that almost sliced open his neck with a knife just stared him down with a mean look.

"Well if there's anything I can do to make your stay here more pleasant, just let me know."

As he turns to leave he takes about three steps and then he sees her. He can't understand why she is there but she's standing in the middle of a hallway in talking to the desk sergeant about something. He needs to think fast so he pulls the hat he is wearing over his face but he keeps his eyes exposed to see where he's going. He ducks around the corner and blends in with the other cops. As he makes his way into the bullpen his captain is coming out of his office heading straight for him. Montgomery sees him and calls out his name.

"Castle, I want to talk to you."

Rick walks towards him and stops halfway there turning to follow his boss. At the same time, Kate is entering the bullpen from another door.

"Castle you should be at home sleeping what are you doing here?"

"I heard that you wanted to talk to me."

"Listen there were a couple of cops who were on a stakeout who were called on procedure. Seems that they got overanxious and blew their cover."

Just as Rick hears what the captain is telling him Kate walks into the inner office where they are heading towards so he hides behind Roy.

"Pass it on Rick I don't want any funny stuff going on."

"Right, no funny stuff."

Rick turns around knowing that Roy is done talking to him. As he makes a beeline for the exit he runs right into Kate who is entering the bullpen from yet another door.

"Bill! How are you?"

"I'm okay."

"What are you doing here?"

Rick can't tell her that he is a cop and stalls telling her why he's there. But he studders trying to come up with a reasonable excuse.

"Well, I um...I...I...Uh...um No, no, no what are you doing here? I heard that you were supposed to be at work?"

"I was supposed to be at work but I asked to leave early to see my brother because they only have certain hours to visit here."

The processing cop had finished with the suspect that Rick had talked to earlier and was moving him back to holding. When he saw Rick he had something to say to him.

"Hey, fishman, one day we will dance again and then I will be the one who kills you."

Rick only looked at him knowing that he would be facing a lot of questions from Kate when he turned back to face her. Seeing the entire exchange between the two of them she was worried.

"Bill are you in some sort of trouble?"

"Noooo, he is only an old friend."

Kate looks at him not really believing his answer but she can't be sure.

"Hey, Rick." One of the other detectives says to him as he passes them and he can't believe his luck was this bad. He needs to get out of here now.

Kate again looks at him funny and then he says,

"Listen Kate this is really a bad time to talk. Could you call me? I mean I have to make a couple of calls and then you and I can talk afterward but right now I'm super busy." Rick tells her as he conveniently disappears around the corner.

Kate just stares at where Bill/Rick had just gone to as she bites her lower lip. She leaves the police station for home wondering why he was avoiding her.

TBC


	10. Chapter 10

Kevin was on a mission. He was going to make Espo and Sully suffer badly. Ever since the day that they left the dog poop in the refrigerator he had been thinking about getting payback and now he had the best idea.

Earlier in the day, he had been to the city pound where he picked the worst, the meanest, and the mangiest cat he could find. He had his new "friend" sat in the carry cage in the passenger seat of his car. He pulls up to the back of the house that they are working in and parks the car. He sees that the day shift detectives are still here because their red Buick SUV is still parked in the driveway. He puts on the heavy-duty leather gloves and opens the cage. As he does the cat starts to hiss at him and back up to the back of the cage. He reaches in and grabs the cat by the midsection being careful of its claws. Having a good grip on the cat with both hands, he pulls it out and kicks the car door closed with his foot. He runs over to the Buick and very carefully balances the cat in one hand as he opens the door to the SUV with the other. He throws the cat into the back seat and slams the door shut before tabby had ideas of escaping. He runs from the back of their car laughing a little as he does. Climbing the stairs he tosses the gloves into the mess that is on the second floor knowing these guys wouldn't notice anything new.

"Hey, guys. Anything happening across the street?"

"Not much. Her mother's next-door neighbor got in a fight with her husband and her best friend gave her a recipe for some sort of shrimp dish." Sully tells him.

"A recipe huh?"

"Yeah. At least my wife will get something good out of this."

"Is she over there now?"

"She went out about two hours ago and hasn't been back since," Espo tells him. "Oh yeah, and the digital camera took a dump so you going to have to get a new one today," Esposito told Ryan.

"Night guys." Ryan waves to them as they walk down the stairs. He quickly runs to the back of the house to watch them come out of the back door through the window that is covered by plastic. Just as Esposito is putting the dog into the car and shuts the door Rick pulls up past the two detectives who are getting ready to leave. When they do leave he backs into their spot and shuts the car down. Kevin who was watching from the second story window hears the cat hiss and meow and Esposito's car comes to a screeching halt. Espo gets out of the car not knowing what in the hell is going on and his dog jumps from the car being chased by the cat. Kevin who can't hold in his laughter is bent over laughing hysterically.

Rick sees Esposito take off running after his dog and Sully sees Kevin at the window. He can't stop himself from yelling up to him.

"This is not FUNNY!" Sully says as he points to Ryan.

Rick who was loving every minute of this looks up and sees his partner laughing and he gives him the thumbs up.

* * *

Rick gets upstairs and sees Kevin. He can't believe this kid and lets him know it when he gets to the top of the stairs.

"You are something else you know that?"

"I am aren't I."

"You, my friend keep me young."

"Why thank you. Listen the digital camera took a shit and I need to go out and get a replacement."

"Alright."

"Leave it to those two morons to break a camera."

"How long will you be gone?"

"About an hour."

"Okay, see you when you get back."

Rick walks over to the front window as Kevin heads down the back stairs to go get the camera. He's not even at the window and something catches his eye. The picture of Kate that he had hanging on the wall between the two studs now has a pair of larger breasts drawn on it by those two idiots.

_"Jesus they're immature." _He thinks to himself.

* * *

Josh and Peter are stuck on the side of the road with a broken-down car. His brother is telling him that he can fix this piece of shit but he has his doubts.

"How much longer Peter?" Josh asks.

"I don't know. The fuel pump might be bad but it could also be the fuel injectors. Maybe we should have stolen a better car."

"Maybe it was all I could get on such short notice. Don't be a whiner. At least we got this far."

"Well, when I get this fixed if I can that is, we are going to need a new set of wheels soon."

Peter finally has the car running again about an hour later. They both get in and can see the city in the distance.

* * *

When Kate got home and she was starving. The meeting with her boss ran just a little late and he gave her the night off with pay. So here she stands in front of her stove swaying her hips to the beat of the 80's tune Higher Love by Steve Winwood. She stirs in some onions, garlic, and a dash of salt and pepper into the meat she is cooking. Her stomach is already getting happy.

* * *

Rick needs to explain that seeing her the other day at the store needed to be the last time that they could see each other by chance or not. He needed to stress the fact that they can't start anything together.

_"Its simple Rick… _he says to himself_… Just call her up and tell that he can't see her anymore."_

He watches her through the binoculars from the front window and can see that she is cooking something. He places the binoculars on the table and picks up his phone to dial her number. The recorder in the house starts the second the first ring sounds and he is quick to shut it off. The department doesn't need to hear about this.

"Hello." Kate answers.

"Hello. It's ah… um…" Rick can't remember the name he gave her the other day at the store. He needs to think but he can't take too long because she will get suspicious. Then he remembers and snaps his fingers.

"Bill."

"Hi Bill, how are you?"

"I'm okay. Look the reason I called is that there are some things that we need to get straight here."

"You know I've got good taste."

"Excuse me?" Rick says.

"I've got good taste in food, I've got good taste in music, but I have great taste in men."

Rick didn't know what to say to that so he played stupid.

"Um, I'm not sure what we're talking about here."

"I'm talking about you. What you did for my brother John, what you did for me…

"Oh, that…"

"What do you mean oh that? What you did was a great thing that you and your police friend did. My brother is out of jail, he has a steady job, my mother wants to marry you, my brother wants to marry you…"

"Yeah? What do you want?"

Rick can see her reaction to his question from across the street and he wonders if she wants that too

"Kate?"

"Yes."

There was a silence on the line and Rick needed to put an end to this call quick.

"Kate, can you hold on for a second?"

"Sure."

Rick turns away from the window so he can't see her just so he won't chicken out. He muffles his phone by pushing it against his shoulder while he thinks about what to tell her.

_'You can't be such a wuss. Tell her!' _Rick says out loud to no one in particular.

"Look, Kate, there are things about me that you don't know…"

"Bill, there are things about me that you don't know either that's why people go out."

Rick takes a seat behind the telescope and sees that she is turned away from the stove.

"Yeah, that's true. But there are things about me that I can't tell you about."

"Are you in some kind of trouble?"

"Kind of."

"With the law maybe?"

"Ah in a way yeah."

Rick zooms in on the stove and sees a disaster in the making. He concentrates on Kate's food sitting on the stove burner and sees the flames start taking over the skillet. He blurts out the first thing that comes to mind.

"Kate, your food is burning!"

At first, she doesn't connect what he is telling her with what is happening in her apartment.

"Your food is burning!"

Kate tuns towards the stove and Bill was right. Her skillet is in flames on the stove.

"Shit!"

She pulls off the pan and moves towards the sink to put out the fire. There goes the dinner she wanted so badly.

"Fuck!" She says as she waves the oven mitt around to dissipate the smoke. Then she has a thought.

Rick who only now realized that he knew her food was burning says to himself,

"How did you know her food was burning?"

Kate knows that he told her her food was on fire and now she wants to know how he knew.

"Bill, how did you know my food was burning?"

"Pardon me."

"My food was burning how did you know that? Are you a psychic or something?"

"No no, I'm not psychic. I heard it sizzling behind you." Rick drops the phone and makes a face that even he wouldn't believe this lie.

"Oh. You have pretty good ears. Yeah."

"Look, Kate, I just can't see you for a while."

"You, you don't see… want to.."

Kate can't believe that this is happening. She thought that they had something and if she read him right he liked her too. But maybe she was mistaken. She tried to be strong but she felt the tears starting to form.

"Look, Bill, this is not really a good time for me right now. I need to be at work soon but maybe you can give me your home phone number and I will call you tomorrow."

"My home number?"

"Yeah, you do have a phone don't you?"

"Yeah. Yeah, what do you think of course I have a phone but I'm hardly ever there."

"Okay, then I'll call you at the office."

"NO! I'm never there. The home number is better. The number is 212-435-6658."

Just then Kevin decided to return with the new camera. Rick can hear him trudging up the stairs. He needs to cut this call off quick before he realizes who he is talking to.

"Yeah, no, okay talk to you soon. Okay, okay. Oooookay." Rick ends the call hoping that Ryan won't be curious.

Kevin knows something is up and will wait until his partner is in too deep before he will tell him anything. So he plays along.

"Everything okay there Rick?"

"Okayyyy."

TBC


	11. Chapter 11

Rick snores on the mattress that is lying on the floor thanks to Gina seeing that the box spring and bed frame went with her. He is grateful for one small gift though. The next-door butthead is not working on his motorcycle today and that lets him get at least five hours of uninterrupted sleep. That is until the phone starts ringing.

He fumbles around trying to find the phone and when he can't he throws the blanket off his head to see where it is. When his eyes open he is temporarily blinded by the bright sunlight but his eyes adjust quickly. He picks up the phone and says hello.

"Hello." It comes out like he has a sore throat and not the fact that he just woke up.

"Hi, it's Kate."

Her voice puts him at ease and he relaxes a little.

"Hi. What's wrong?"

"Did I wake you?"

"No, no it's okay. Where are you?"

"I'm at home. Listen to me, Bill, just because you might be in a little bit of trouble doesn't mean I'm going to let you off the hook. That is no reason for us not to see each other."

It finally dawns on him that she is at home and also that the dayshift guys are hearing everything that they are saying.

"Oh shit!"

He needs to think fast and starts having a loud coughing fit right into the phone. He disguises his voice and tells Kate,

"I can't talk right now."

"Are you alright?"

"I'll have to call you back."

"Bill? Hello Bill?" All Kate hears is a dial tone on the other end. She sits there drying her hair from the shower she just took wondering what just happened.

* * *

"Bill," Espo says to his partner as the recording machine clicks off.

"Yeah, Bill." Sully agrees with him.

Espo and Sully look at each other and think that they have a new contact to look into. Some guy named Bill is all they have. Sully writes down the time of the call the highlights of the call and the time it ended. They will tell the captain what they have when their shift ends.

* * *

All Rick has the sense to do is grab his button-down shirt and he hastily throws on his pants disregarding the buckle on his belt, the zipper or the button on the waistband. He takes the stairs two by two out of his loft almost tripping down them. He stopped briefly right outside his police-issued car and cinches the belt on his pants while pulling them up. He opens the door of the car jumps in throws his shirt on the front passenger seat starts the car and takes off like a bat out of hell. He needs to get to Ryan's house and then they both need to get the tape of him talking to Kate back before anyone else hears it.

* * *

Sully pops the memory card out of the recorder of Bill talking to the woman they are surveilling across the street. He labels the evidence bag with the card inside and seals the bag. Just then he hears whistling coming up the stairs. Castle and Ryan are early for a change.

"Well, well well. Look who it is and fifteen minutes early no less. This must be some sort of record." Espo says as Ryan and Castle make it up the stairs.

"So everything okay here?" Rick asks Sully.

"We, and I mean myself and Esposito got a phone call today," Sully says as he tosses the SD card to Ryan who looks at it.

"Oh yeah? What was it another recipe?" Kevin starts in.

"No, it's from some guy named Bill." Espo recants and gives Ryan the evidence bag with the SD card in it.

Rick wants that card so he says,

"Ryan let me see that card."

Just as Ryan was going to give it to his partner Sully intercepts it.

"Wait I was going to bring that back to the precinct," Rick says.

"No way in hell. We're going to be taking it back because it happened on our shift so we get to bring it in. Whoever this Bill is tried to disguise his voice. I think it's Davidson."

"Nap time is over boys, you guys better stay alert tonight," Espo says to Ryan as he shoves the binoculars into his chest.

Sully and Espo vacate the house quicker than you can say sassafras. Ryan knows that they are planning some kind of stunt to get them back for the cat debacle the other day.

"I smell a rat. Those bastards are up to something. I don't know what it is yet but they are up to something."

Rick just stands against the railing thinking about what just happened with the SD card and he is not even paying attention to Ryan babble on about something. He knows what this will mean if they connect him to Kate.

"Oh yeah, they're up to something, and I'm going to find out what it is though," Ryan says as he takes the binoculars and places them against his eyes to look across the street. He turns toward Rick and drops the binoculars down and asks,

"Do you know what it is?"

When Rick looks up he sees Kevin's eyes and notices that there are heavy black circles on his cheeks and eyebrows from where Espo put shoe polish on the eyepieces of the binoculars.

"Yeah, yeah I have a pretty good idea of what it is."

"What, what tell me."

Rick motions with a nod of his head to get Kevin to look into the mirror hanging up on the wall. When he does he is furious.

"Son of a bitch! I'm going to kill them."

Rick can care less about what happened to Ryan. He is pissed that he almost had the SD card in his hands and he let it get away from him. Ryan heads to the bathroom to clean his eyes off and Rick moves towards the telescope. He looks out the window and sees someone is out there heading for the front door. He sits down and sights in on Kate's home and a man is standing about six feet tall, about 210 pounds and very athletic looking dressed in a blue jean jacket going through her front gate and starting for the stairs. He is swaying as if he is drunk as he walks. Rick jumps up off the chair and starts for the stairs yelling to Ryan...

"Cover me!"

"What?"

"Someone is trying to get into her house and I'm going over there!"

When Ryan comes back from the bathroom the floor is empty except for the surveillance stuff. Rick is nowhere to be found. Then he sees somebody trying to get into Kate's home through the telescope.

Rick is down the stairs almost falling because he missed a step but he makes it outside and by that time the guy is knocking on her door. He's across the street when he sees it the guy pushes his way into her house and the door is left wide open.

Rick stops by a car parked in the street and has his weapon out and ready to use. He turns to see if Kevin can see what's going on across the street and when he looks up Kevin is waving his arms over his head to get his attention. Even though he can't hear him yelling Kevin is yelling that this guy is not their possible suspect Rick bolts away from the car after he secures his weapon back in his holster. He can hear shouting as he gets closer to the open door.

* * *

Kevin throws his hands up in the air when Rick runs across the street to stop whatever is happening at Kate's house.

He cautiously climbs the stairs and by the time he gets to the top step the guy has just pushed Kate backward and she lands on the floor in a heap.

"Where is she, Kate? I know Gail is here somewhere. She always comes to you when we have a fight so where is she? I want to know right now."

Rick takes his weapon and holster from his side and hides it in his inside jacket pocket. This guy is drunk and he can handle him without his gun.

"Hey anybody home?" He calls out as he reaches the top step and puts his jacket on the railing.

"BILL!" Kate says as she gets to her feet rushing to his side and immediately gets behind him for protection.

"Who the fuck are you?" The drunk guy asks.

"I'm a friend of Kate's. She invited me over for dinner. What's it to you man?"

"I'm looking for my wife!" The drunk guy says as he runs into Rick, almost knocking him back into Kate.

"Where'd you leave her pal?"

"She's here I know it!" The drunk guy charges Rick and Kate seeing this steps back as he slams into him then says,

"He thinks that just because I'm friends with Gail he can just barge in here whenever he wants."

"She's here. I know that she is. She is hiding somewhere in here!"

Rick/Bill whispers to Kate as she stands back behind him again…_ "Is she here?"_

_"No that's what I've been trying to tell him."_

"You know buddy I think that you might have made a mistake."

"Go to hell." The drunk guy says as he gives him another look that could kill.

Rick sees the drunk guy start moving to Kate's bedroom. He parallels his move towards the bedroom and makes it there before he does.

"Bill, I want him out of here. I'm calling the cops right now!"

Rick knows this can't happen for several reasons: first, he is a cop and second if the cops show up and he's in her house the cover they have across the street will be blown. So he calms Kate by telling her that he's got things under control and the cops don't need to be brought into this.

Rick quickly gets into position by Kate's kitchen table and asks the drunk guy if he could help him look for his wife. Again the guy just gave him another look that said go screw yourself. Rick has him right where he wants him now. As he walks by crossing the kitchen towards Kate's bedroom he sticks out his foot and trips the drunk guy who lands flat on his face. His knee catches the corner of the chair and from what it looks like Rick could tell that it hurt. Kate stood watching the whole thing unfold before her eyes.

"Oh man, I'm really sorry. Just relax. Now when I lift you up you are going to sit your ass in the chair behind you. 1, 2, 3…"

Rick lifts the drunk guy into the chair and looks him in the eye.

"We're doing just fine, right?"

The drunk guy nods his head and agrees with Rick.

"Good. We'll get you some ice for your knee and some aspirin for your head because it looks like you could use it." Rick turns to Kate and asks if she has any aspirin. She does and goes to get it.

"Now I don't think it'd be a pretty good thing if you went to talk to Gail right about now because you've been drinking and you might say things that you could regret tomorrow."

Kate gets the aspirin from the cabinet and then fills a plastic baggie with ice for his knee, the gallon size because this guy is pretty big. She listens as Rick takes command of the situation and calms the drunk guy down. It's almost civil now that he has realized what he's done wrong.

Kate comes back to the table and sees at the two men there are talking quietly. She gives Bill the aspirin and the drunk guy takes the bag of ice to put on his knee. Bill takes the aspirin and a glass of water from Kate and hands it to the drunk guy and asks him what his drink preference is.

"Rum and coke."

Rick/Bill watches as he takes them with a swallow of water.

"Thanks, Kate."

Rick turns back to the drunk guy and says,

"That used to be my drink of choice, but I gave it up. I would end up with these splitting headaches right between the eyes the next day." Bill/Rick points to the center of his head right between his eyes.

"I couldn't even function the next day. Did you ever get those?"

Kate watches in awe as the two men become fast friends. She can't believe that this guy was pushing her around not 5 minutes earlier.

"Well, I guess it just might have been me," Rick says as he chuckles.

He turns and looks at Kate and says,

"We're doing okay. We're going to be fine."

Then he looks back at the drunk guy and says how about some coffee? The drunk guy needs something other than the alcohol coursing through his veins so he agrees to a cup of coffee and says,

"Coffee is good."

"Yeah we'll have coffee, calm down, and we'll talk about Gail."

Rick turns back to Kate and asks her if she can make them some coffee. When he looks at her he can tell that she is falling in deeper with him the more time goes on. He can tell just by the smile she is giving him.

"Sure." She replies.

By the time they're done with their coffee Rick/Bill had called a cab to come to the house. He walked the drunk guy down the stairs and as the cab pulled up he turned and went back inside. By the time he gets upstairs, he is practically right next to Kate looking out the window watching the drunk guy getting a cab to head back home.

As a drunk guy gets into the back seat in the cab he gives a friendly wave to Rick who is standing there watching him fall into the cab.

Kate looks Bill/Rick straight in the face and says,

"I'm impressed."

Rick only shrugs his shoulders and says,

"I was in the neighborhood."

"I'm beginning to like this neighborhood more and more. I was a little worried after our last phone call we had." Kate replies.

"Yeah well, I guess I was kind of out of it when you called last." Rick looks at his watch and notices that he needs to get back to where Kevin is across the street. "Listen this is probably not the best time but I need to get going…"

"No. Not going to happen, Bill." Kate moves closer to him and Rick/Bill tries to back up but he can't. She takes his head in both her hands and moves closer still and there's nothing he can say to stop her now so he gives it one last try.

"Listen, Kate, I'm involved…"

He doesn't get to finish the rest of the sentence before her lips are on his. All she feels is electricity flowing through her lips all the way down to her feet. The man is a virtual power plant she feels every bit of what he offers.

Kate's the one who breaks the kiss and she opens her eyes and looks directly at Bill/Rick. The only thing she can say is,

"Oh wow!"

She doesn't want this to end and she knows that Bill doesn't want to end either. So she takes his index finger and inserts the tip into her mouth and starts sucking on it. Nothing can stop him now. He watches as she sucks on his finger and he can't control himself any longer. Her eyes close and he pulls her in for a deep passionate the kiss doesn't last long because Rick knows that he's in too deep. He pulls away from Kate and stands about a foot apart from her.

"Kate I'm in way over my head here."

Rick turns to walk out the door but it's Kate's words that stop him dead in his tracks.

"Stay with me, Bill."

"Kate…."

"Bill, you don't want to break my phone do you? If I do they'll send somebody else here. And you wouldn't want that to happen would you?"

All Bill/Rick can do is smile. She starts attacking his throat with soft kisses and of course he exposes more of his throat by tilting it to the right so she doesn't have to stop. Kate moves her head back up to his lips and starts assaulting him with hers. Rick cannot resist. He pulls her into another deep meaningful kiss. He can hear her moaning his name.

"Ohhhhh Bill."

Rick knows that she knows him as Bill. But his cock is now thinking for his brain and says,

"Fuck Bill!"

TBC

**A/N There seem to be issues with the East coast internet coverage. Service is almost non-existiant from NYC to D.C. I'm sending this from my phone so I hope it posts.**

**P2P**


	12. Chapter 12

**Reader Warning: This chapter is an "M" rated so stop reading when "Kate thinks that she needs him in more ways than he knows" and continue when you see "Josh and Peter pull up to her house and kill the lights on their second stolen vehicle."**

Kevin watches through the telescope and he sees Rick making the moves on Kate. Apparently he can't do anything about it because he's stuck here in the house but he can watch to make sure he's safe. He grabs an old bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken sorts through what's left of the pieces and finds a wing that looks pretty tempting. The second he pulled it out of the bucket it was cold to start with. They have no microwave so he can't heat it up and when he takes a bite it's too cold and then throws it back into the bucket because it's not worth eating. He picks up a Coke that was sitting on the chair when he got there 2 hours ago, opens it and realizes that the idiots who left him with rings around his eyes have now shaken the soda and it's all over his clothes.

He gives one last look across the way and he sees Kate with her shirt unbuttoned but covering her breasts walking towards the doors for her bedroom. The next thing he sees is her closing the swing doors to her bedroom. He pulls the comforter around him, sits back in the chair and falls asleep a short time later.

* * *

Rick can't get enough of her. Her need for fulfillment is not something he has ever seen in any woman before. Even Gina was never this soft with him. With her, it was more like _"come on let's get this over with so I can get some sleep."  
_  
Kate was a woman who he needed in his life and it was not the fact that they already made love to each other two times and she was currently asleep next to him. He was hooked by her beauty and her drive for keeping him honest. Boy was she in for a surprise when she found out that he was a cop who was given the job of watching her. He dreaded the day that would happen. He startles a little when he felt her leg wrap around his. He looks down and sees her eyes and can tell that she is nowhere near finished with him yet.

* * *

Kate needs him in more ways than he knows. He is the first man that she has let into her bed since Josh and it's been a long two and a half years for her. And even he was nothing compared to Rick. He treats her like a goddess. Their first session was rough, hard and fast and it fit their needs. After they satisfied their carnal needs they slowed down the second round and she let him run the show. Now it's her turn.

She takes him in her hand and starts stroking him softly. He is quick to respond and when she looks into his ocean blue eyes she notices a bit of mischief is staring right back at her. In seconds he is at full attention. She rubs the tip of his cock with her thumb only to see his eyes close. She knows that he is loving her touch.

When they first started their lovemaking she was stunned when he slammed into her during their first round. He had taken her from behind and she was gasping for air when he drove his cock into her for the very first time. It took her a while to adjust to his girth and length (because he was quite large) and once they found their rhythm everything was great. She never wanted it to end.

* * *

She moves down his abdomen with one target in mind. It doesn't take her long and she has him deep in her throat. She can tell that he is loving what she is doing because his head is thrown back and he is fisting the sheets tightly. She circles the head of his cock with her tongue before taking in about three-quarters of his cock into her mouth. Now she knows her limit and she starts to move up and down using her hand in a coordinated effort with her mouth.

She thinks that he is almost there because the head of his cock is starting to bulge and she wants to swallow each and every drop he spurts into her mouth. But she is caught off guard when he grabs her hips and lifts her up off the bottom of the bed. She was so concentrated on blowing him that she never felt him raise himself to the sitting position in order to lift her. She automatically places her hands down at his hips to keep her balance, but she never stops sucking his cock. Then she realizes why he has picked her up, turned her around, and placed her abdomen on his chest. She waits in anticipation. Her knees fall at each side of his shoulders as he wraps his arms around her waist and pulls her tightly against his chest. She knows what's going to come next and there's no way she can prepare for it. His tongue slides between the hood of her clit and her outer lips and she almost has an orgasm right there. His tongue whips her into a frenzy and she starts sucking his cock like a woman on a mission to get him to cum. But she's torn between what she feels between her legs and what she's doing to him and she wants to surrender to his talented tongue. Her motions slow to almost nothing and she releases his cock from her mouth only to moan softly when he starts working his tongue into her folds like a man who has been given the green light to make her cum as many times as he possibly can. She shudders when he takes her inner lips into his mouth and sucks on them gently. Then she feels the urge to pee and then it happens without warning. He is deluged with her cum and she realizes that she has never had an orgasm like this before in her life. He greedily tries to lap up as much of her cum as he can because she can still feel his mouth on her clit. When she finally comes to rest she is still shaking from the experience. Her body falls limply on top of his.

"Bill, what did you just do to me? I've never had an experience like that before in my life."

"Kate it turns out that you, my dear, are a squirter. And I for one am grateful for that."

She laid there thinking about what he just did to her and he was right. But there was one act that she did not complete.

"You do know that I was in the middle of giving you one of my best blow jobs right?"

"Kate there will be plenty of times for you to do that again, I'm only glad that I could make you cum that way."

"Wow."

"Let's take a rest and get a little sack time. I'm a little tired after tonight's festivities."

Kate's response was to snuggle into his side and cuddle. It was amazing the way he could make her feel and as she listened to his heartbeat she slipped into a deep sleep. Once Rick had felt her go slack in his arms he too fell asleep. He went into a dream almost immediately.

He and Kate had just had the best time exploring each other's bodies and they fell asleep close to each other. They are both on their backs and then Kate thinks that she hears something downstairs. Thinking it was nothing after listening for a minute she heard nothing more and fell back asleep again.

* * *

Josh and Peter pull up to her house and kill the lights on their second stolen vehicle. This one had the power to get it to where they needed to go. They stole a 2014 Chevy Silverado pickup. Josh gets out of the truck and Peter follows right behind him. As they walk up to the sidewalk they take in the house in front of them and find that it's pitch black. Perfect just what he wanted. They make quick work of the front door lock and are walking up the stairs without issue.

* * *

Kevin who was across the street sleeping in his comforter never hears anything or sees anything. Rick and Kate are on their own now.

* * *

She drapes her arm over Rick's chest and falls asleep with her head on his chest. During the night she rolls over onto her back and it's then that she sees him.

Josh is walking towards Rick with a gun drawn and she's trying to quietly nudge Rick to wake him up but it's not working.

The gun is pressed to Rick's head and he wakes up just before the trigger is pulled. He won't be waking up anymore.

* * *

Rick wakes with a start and sits up as if he was really shot in the head. Kate wakes up from his sudden movement and she is quick to calm him.

"Oh Bill, I'm sorry that you had a nightmare," Kate says as she starts to kiss his cheek.

"It's all okay. I'll take care of you." She adds.

She is still craving him and climbs on top of him to see if he can rise to the task. In seconds she is hovering over him and sliding her body down his to get him into position. Being a little soft she gets him hard and places him at her entrance. Just as she is about to slip him inside her he rolls them over on her back.

"WHAT TIME IS IT?" Bill/Rick shouts.

"It 's 7:32."

"JESUS CHRIST!" Bill/Rick yells yet again as he is scrambling from her bed looking for his pants.

"What's wrong?"

"It's morning." He says as he pulls his pants on while frantically searching for his shirt and shoes. He can't be here. He overslept and now the dayshift guys are across the street. How the hell is he going to get out of this house.

"Are you going to be late for work?"

"Uh-huh." He tells her as he zips up his pants and tries to find his shirt.

"Can you call them and tell them you'll be a little late maybe?" She still wanted him to stay.

"No can't"

Kate throws off the sheets exposing her beautiful naked form. Rick can't look at her anymore without taking her right then and there so he opens her swing doors and drops to the floor so he is not seen. He finds his socks and shoes and sits down to put them on.

By the time he has his socks on Kate is clad in her silk robe standing in front of him. He needs a disguise and quick.

"Do you think you could lend me a hat?"

She looks at him as if he's lost his mind.

"A hat?"

"Yeah, yeah a hat. I have this really bad skin condition and it gets worse out in the direct rays of the sun." He tells her as he ties up his running shoes.

"Like a rash?"

"Yeah exactly like a rash, but it's worse."

"Bill is this one of the things that you didn't want to tell me about?"

"No… no no no, it's nothing, well nothing serious anyway."

Rick/Bill watches as she turns to get the hat. He pulls himself into a crossed legged position and drops his head into his hands resting his elbows on his knees wondering how he is going to get out of this without getting caught.

Kate walks out of her bedroom with a very large floppy red hat. It is ridiculously big and bright red.

"I'm not sure that red is your color," Kate says as she hands the hat to him.

Rick gets up off the floor and smiles at her.

"I'm sure that it will be perfectly fine."

Rick puts on the hat and Kate sees that it is not sitting right on his head. So she adjusts it to look right.

"Much better."

"Thank you!"

Rick steps to the stairway and starts to move down the stairs thinking about how he will get out of her house unseen. But he sees her watching him and he can't resist her look.

"Wait, wait wait…" Rick climbs back up the stairs and moves close to Kate. He lays his lips upon hers and kisses her until she can't breathe.

"Now I really got you thinking don't I?"

Kate could only smile at how crazy he was being now.

He took to the stairs once again and when he was out of her eyesight she heard,

"Wait a sec… Can I borrow this?" He asks as he points to a shaw hanging on a coat hook.

"It's yours." She watches as he throws the shaw around his shoulders and finishes going down the stairs to the front door.

TBC


	13. Chapter 13

He closed the front door and started to descend the stairway. Halfway down it he turned back and climbed up two steps and then went back down them once again. He was trying to throw off the guys across the street. He didn't think it would work but he needed to try something. He adjusted the shawl around his shoulders to hide his black leather jacket.

Esposito was brushing his bulldog when the dog started raising his paw in a motion as if it was waving at somebody. Espo not knowing what to think asked,

"Who were you waving at boy?"

The second the dog repeated the motion Espo looked out the window and saw a man leaving the residence of the person that they're watching across the street. He was wearing a floppy pink hat and a shawl wrapped around his shoulders. The dogs brushing could wait and Esposito dropped the brush to the table and ran towards the window with the binoculars to get a better look.

"Sully… Sully get on the phone to the precinct. A guy is coming out of the Beckett house across the street."

Sully who had been in the bathroom is quickly pulling up his pants running towards his partner. He pulls out his phone and starts dialing the precinct when he finally has his pants buttoned-up.

Esposito was calling out height, weight, clothes description, color, and direction of flight while Sully repeated into the phone.

"He's heading South!" Sully repeated it as Espo almost knocked him over getting to the stairway to go after this guy. The second he had repeated everything over the phone, he hung up and was right behind his partner. He only had a five-second head start over him.

* * *

Rick knew that his goose was cooked. He headed south and ran through the backyard of a man who was tending to his garden and almost ran him over in the process. The man got up and asked what his problem was as he kept on running. That's when he heard the sirens. It seems that Esposito the gung-ho cop of their crew had jumped into his police issued Crown Vic and was unknowingly pursuing Rick. In the Bronx, there are very small alleyways that are almost invisible. But the one that Rick just happened to run into was as wide as a car. And that exposed him to everyone and anything that was driving along the main street in front of him. He hugged the wall close but the patrol unit that was rushing down the street adjacent to the alleyway saw him, stopped and then backed up through the alleyway to drive into it. Rick had no option than to run into the building that was adjacent to the alleyway to get away.

Esposito is coming out coming of the alleyway from the North heading South and a marked unit was coming from the East. The marked unit turned towards the North and essentially blocked Esposito from moving forward. He stuck his head out the window and yelled to the cops in the marked unit to back it up. When they did they backed up over motorcycle that was parked on someone's property.

Rick who had been hiding behind a fence had seen Esposito yell after he almost hit the marked unit and then the marked unit backing up into the motorcycle. He watched Esposito as he drove by him through a hole in the wooden fence and then once the coast was clear he stepped out into the alleyway.

* * *

After Bill had rushed down the stairs and out of her house, Kate put on a pot of coffee. When it was done brewing she poured herself a cup and added her two pumps of sugar-free vanilla. She stood there thinking about the night she had just had with Bill and she realized that she was slowly falling in love with him. There was just something about him that she needed in her life. Maybe because it was what of what he did for her brother, or maybe because she needed to think about settling down and finding someone that could give her what she needed. Her thoughts are interrupted by the sounds of sirens all around her neighborhood. So from her kitchen, she walks out onto the balcony through her living room and watches as she sees many police cars driving up and down her block with their overhead lights on.

* * *

Rick is running to save his life or in this case, save his job. As he runs out of the second alleyway into a third and different alley there is a cop car that spotted him. He turns and runs down the alley hoping to outrun the cop car but that's impossible. As he crosses the street he runs towards somebody's backyard through their driveway but he can hear the marked patrol unit coming closer to him. It's then when he hears the second unit slam at the first one and completely disables both cars enabling him to get away. He continues running towards the backyard of the property across from the alley and hops the fence into their backyard.

When he lands on the grass he is cautious. There is a dog house close to the house but the dog house door is very small. He takes a step towards it hoping that the dog will show itself and then maybe he can deal with that. He has taken three steps and he stops acting still as a statue.

He hears a low growl and then he turns to see an adult German Shepard running at him in full stride towards him. He reacts by running away but before he does he throws the shawl at the dog who runs right past it aiming for him. He takes off running and hops over a chicken wire fence and almost gets decapitated by a child's swing set. Getting free from that mess he jumps another fence hoping to lose the dog. No such luck. Then he sees an out. There is a cheap greenhouse made from 2x4's and clear plastic. He sees a way to get higher than the dog so he takes it. He is now trying to kick the dog away as he reaches the top of the greenhouse. The dog can't reach him and for now, he's out of harm's way. That is until the greenhouse starts to lean towards the street and dumps him into a pile of garbage bags right beneath it.

He starts to get up but ducks back down because he hears a siren coming towards him. Then he hears someone yelling at him.

"Come on! Come on move your ass Rick!"

Rick looks at the car that stopped right in front of him and sees his partner pushing the passenger side door open.

He jumps up from the garbage pile and runs for the car. By the time he reaches it Kevin is already pulling away from the curb before he is completely in the car. Rick is still trying to catch his breath when Kevin gives him a look and cracks a grin. He does this two more times while Rick watches him and then says,

"Did we practice safe sex?"

Rick turns away from him with a despondent look on his face.

* * *

The FBI special agent in charge Sorrenson presses the play button on the digital recording and the cops at the precinct start to hear who was talking to Ms. Beckett.

"Hello."

"Hi, it's Kate."

"Hi. Hi. What's wrong?"

"Did I wake you?"

"No, no it's okay. Where are you?"

"I'm at home. Listen to me, Bill, just because you might be in a little bit of trouble doesn't mean I'm going to let you off the hook. That is no reason for us not to see each other."

"Holy shit!" Heavy coughing is heard on the recording now.

"I can't talk right now."

"Are you alright?"

"I'll have to call you back."

"Bill? Hello Bill?"

Sorrenson stops the recording and Rick looks over to Kevin who is sitting front and center as a good brownnoser and starts to grin back at him. Rick has interlocked his hands dropping his head down in shame.

With the recording over Sorenson directs everyone's attention to the monitor next to him.

"We also have video surveillance of a caucasian male leaving the 2120 St. Paul Ave. address in the Bronx."

Sorrenson clicks the play button on the laptop and the tape starts to play. Rick watches himself do a terrible job at trying to leave Kates's house. He rubs his temples knowing that there will be a full-blown migraine coming soon and there's nothing he can do to stop it.

"Now we don't know if this guy is the same guy on the phone or even if he has any relationship with Davidson, but we're not taking any chances here. We also found this."

Sorrenson holds up the hat that Rick had lost before he climbed onto the greenhouse. The Sheppard had torn it to shreds. Kate was not getting that hat back.

Sorrenson pressed the fact that if any of the surveillance teams had seen Davidson that they were not to engage. The FBI would cover it.

* * *

The meeting was over and Rick headed to the men's room completely blowing off his partner. He knew that he was going to get an ear full. The second that he had turned the corner to head downstairs there leaning against the wall halfway down was Kevin waiting. Rick stopped when he heard Kevin call him by his made-up name.

"Bill?"

Rick looks at him willing him to understand.

"That's the last fucking straw. YOU BREAK…"

Kevin stopped yelling only because Sully and Esposito had left the briefing and started down the stairs and he didn't want either of them to hear what he was going to say.

"Night guys," Sully commented as he passed them.

Rick sees this as a way to escape and started down the stairs. Kevin was having none of this and he chased him down the stairs and stopped him from going any further.

"Hey, Rick it ends now. I'm serious you need to end it with her. Either you break it off with her or get your ass reassigned. I'm not going to go down with you."

Rick just looks at him hoping to stall but Kevin continues.

"I busted my ass to make detective before I turned 30. I'm not going to let you fuck that up. You got that Rick?"

Rick simply nods his head telling Kevin,

"Yeah, I got that."

Kevin is just about to pass Rick on the staircase and stops with some parting words.

"You know Rick you used to be a hell of a cop. Get your shit together."

TBC


	14. Chapter 14

Josh had a bad feeling that his luck was going to run out. He and Peter were driving in the newly stolen pickup truck heading down through Liberty N. Y. the ride so far was going according to plan. All they had to do is make it to the state line cross over into Jersey and then cross back into New York by going over the GWB. He did this for one reason only and that was to shake any tail that the cops might be following him or on the lookout for him.

Crossing into New Jersey he scanned both sides of the road and noticed a Mahwah, NJ town cop sitting in a black unmarked Ford Explorer. Hoping he would not be noticed he slowed his speed to 55 as he passed him.

"See if that cop comes out of his spot," Josh told his brother.

Peter watches as the cop watches the flow of traffic and is still staying put. After about a mile and a half, the cop is out of sight and Peter tells Josh,

"He's still sitting there. He is not moving to come after us. He's probably drinking his coffee."

* * *

Logan was the newest rookie on the Mahwah police force. He had graduated from the academy with honors just over a month ago. And today he was set up to catch speeders crossing into New Jersey and he was good at it. He was looking North at the traffic coming into New Jersey from upstate New York when he caught the New York state license plate that was just reported stolen yesterday in their morning roll call.

He called it into headquarters and he stayed put until further instruction. Less than 30 seconds later he was told to observe and stay put so he did just that.

* * *

Bergen County Sherriff Pete Makita was driving North on Route 17 through Paramus. He received a call from Mahwah P.D. on SPEN 2 giving a description of a truck that was stolen early yesterday in upstate New York. He acknowledged the call from Mahwah P.D. and took up a position on the Midland avenue overpass and waited. While he waited he called in for additional units to assist him and within five minutes he saw two other Sherrif's cars heading North on 17. He spotted the gunmetal grey Silverado traveling in lane 2 and eased on down the ramp onto Route 17 South. They were doing the speed limit of 50 as they drove and Makita caught up to them in no time. He decided to follow a couple of cars back until his additional back up units caught up to him. He watched as they moved one lane over and it looked like they were going to get on route 4 Eastbound to head to the bridge and into the city. Once they passed under Century road they all started to close the truck in.

* * *

The feeling that Josh had before but his luck changing had come true. He noticed a cop sitting on top of the overpass and as he drove underneath it. He knew they were looking for them. By the time he hit the Century Road overpass, he was moving over to take the ramp to Route 4 East to head towards the bridge at a higher rate of speed. Seeing the cop about four car lengths behind him he decided to move quickly up the ramp and around onto Route 4. He merged into the flow of traffic and he had enough room to get to the fast lane and that's when he really stepped on the gas. The truck responded quickly and soon he's up to 90 plus miles per hour and the traffic in front of him was yielding by moving out of his way. That's something he never thought would happen.

"Peter, I need you to get into the back of the car. Grab the shotgun and load it then be ready." Josh told his little brother.

The second they passed Hackensack Avenue they were two Hackensack patrol cars who merged onto route 4 ahead of the Bergen County Sheriffs. That was a mistake. They had not realized that the county sheriff's had the suspected car thieves under observation. They moved in directly behind the pickup and that's when all hell broke loose.

Peter lowered the window and aimed the shotgun at the front window of the patrol car behind them and pulled the trigger. The first blast would have taken out the driver if he had not moved out of the way in time. The second shot missed everything completely except the hood in the lower part of the windshield. Peter reloaded the shotgun and took aim once again but the cops had decided to evade their hits with their driving. But the car was still hit in the front windshield with two more slugs. The cops pushed the front windshield out so they could see where they were going because the glass has been shattered. Josh who hadn't seen what happened in the rearview pulls out his .45 caliber handgun. And places it on the seat in case she needs it.

* * *

After the first shots that hit their windshield, the cops knew they were in for a wild run. They tried to avoid being hit by shotgun blasts but didn't have any luck. After the windshield was hit four times they kicked out the window so they could see where they were going. All bets were off then. One of the cops had a 10 gauge riot gun and took aim at the rear of the pickup. The first round hit the tailgate the second one shattered the rear window. They were getting closer they just needed to catch a break.

* * *

Josh was getting caught up in slower traffic and now he had an idea. He picked up the .45 that sat on the front seat and stuck it out the window at the car that was just passing him. He pulled the trigger and blew out the front tire of the Volvo SUV trying to pass him and the car automatically skidded to a stop. The cop car that was behind them slammed into the back of it practically going over the top of it. But that was useless because there were three more cops behind him and they were chasing them even harder now simply going around the wreck he had just caused.

Josh decided that going to the city was going to be a mistake so he veered off to a section of roadway that led him down towards Palisades Park. Once he gets there he turns onto an access road that brings him to Ross's dock right along the Hudson River close to the New Jersey tower. He cuts the wheel hard to the right and almost loses control of the truck and that gives the cops behind him to get off two more blasts with the shotgun. The next thing he hears is his brother screaming out in pain. There's nothing he can do about it now so he takes care of the cop that is the one who shot at them and deals with them. He slams on the brakes which gets them to come even with their truck and then he turns the wheel hard to the left slamming them into a rock wall and then they slide down to the river. He gets the second car to back off a little bit and when he does he turned his head to see his brother bleeding profusely from his right side.

"Are you okay?" Josh asks in a concerning tone trying to keep the truck on the road.

"Does it look like I'm okay?" He said as he clutched his side in pain.

Josh needs a way out of this because he will not be caught by the cops. He takes the access road towards the park and blows through the gate that is down to collect the fee from visitors to enter the park. By the time he sees the road to get towards the bridge, there are three cop cars screeching to a halt in front of him blocking his only way out. He hits the brakes on the truck and sits there thinking. The Hudson River is to his left and the cops took up a position behind him essentially boxing him in.

"What are we going to do Josh?" His brother shouts out weakly.

"I'll figure something out don't worry."

"It's over Josh! Just surrender."

"It's not over till I say it is. Keep your head down."

Josh throws the truck in reverse and stomps on the gas hurling the pickup towards the two sheriff's cars blocking the road. He purposely aims for the car on the right and hits it near the rear quarter panel knocking it out of the way. He stops the truck and then throws it in drive flooring it once again down an embankment and onto a dirt road. The truck fishtails because he didn't realize how much power was going to the rear wheels. But when he gets it under control he hears that the sheriff's deputies are opening fire with automatic weapons from the primary road. The pickup truck's windows are all shattered and bullet holes are lining the bed and the doors but they get away. The gunshots are getting too close for comfort and Josh steps on the gas even harder taking turns he shouldn't be taking at these speeds. They managed to get two sheriff's deputies behind him as they drive parallel to the river and he has about a good quarter-mile lead on them. But one Sheriff's deputy on the elevated road fires a lucky shot and blows out his left front tire. That automatically pulls him towards the Hudson River and the truck catapults and flips wildly into the river. Josh tries to reach over the seat to grab Peter but before he can the front of the truck starts sinking into the river before he can. The current is swift and the truck is moving quicker than he can swim. Before he knows it the whole passenger compartment is underwater and he's having trouble holding his breath. Peter died from his wounds so saving him is useless. He tries to push open the door but can't and then he remembers the back window was blown out by the cops shooting at him. The truck finally sinks as they pass under the George Washington bridge. He swims out from underneath the bed of the truck being that it was upside down in the river he makes his way towards the New Jersey anchorage. He quickly popped his head up above the water to make sure there are no cops there to shoot at him and when he sees nothing he latches on to the anchorage concrete and waits out the cops. Having not seen anybody walking up and down the dock area of Ross's dock he swims for the dock. All he needs to do now is go to Kate's place to grab the cash and take her along for a quick ride down to Mexico. He's so close to freedom he can taste it.

TBC


	15. Chapter 15

Kevin was hard at work dismantling their home away from home. Word had come down from Captain Montgomery that Josh's brother was found dead in the shot up pick up truck and since he was dead they figured that Josh had drowned as well. They were still searching the bottom of the Hudson for his body.

Rick climbs the stairs and stops the second he sees Kevin putting the binoculars away.

"What the hell are you doing Kevin?"

He looks over to his partner and can see the confusion on his face.

"We're finished here. That's the reason I'm cleaning up."

"Noooo... they caught Davidson?"

"Yeah a couple of hours ago. I couldn't get that much information from Montgomery but apparently there was a high-speed chase, then a shoot out, and after the shoot out they ended up in the Hudson River and no one came out."

"Really?"

"Yeah really. So we get a pat on the back for a job well done and move onto the next case."

Knowing that they are done with the case Rick looks at Kevin for some answers but can only guess at what he's thinking. He needs to talk to him about Kate but it's awkward for each of them. He turns on the ceiling light for the rest of the cleanup and Kevin says,

"You know that you're one lucky son of a bitch don't you?"

Rick walks towards Kevin and starts laughing knowing that he got away with what he got away with. He looks towards her place and pats his partner on his shoulder. Then they both look across the street.

"So what are you going to do about her?"

"Oh, I don't... know. Kevin, I think I love her."

"Good. That's good. Because I didn't think that you risked all this because you just liked her."

Rick thinks about what he needs to do and he has a question for Kevin.

"Yeah, yeah. Now comes the hard part. Listen, how would you like to come over there with me to tell her that I'm a cop and not a phone man? That I have been lying to her and taking her picture and watching her through binoculars?

"Nope, not gonna happen. You made your bed now you get to sleep in it."

"Yeah, I didn't think that you'd do that with me. You know I always thought it would be you to screw up."

"Well, it wasn't but maybe I'll learn from your mistakes."

They both look at each other and say in unison,

"Probably not."

Rick heads for the stairs to tell Kate who he really is.

"Good luck Rick," Kevin says as he goes down the stairs.

* * *

As he climbs the staircase to Kate's living room he can hear the news report about the chase and shoot out on her TV. The reporter finishes up the report with the fact that the divers can't find Davidson's body due to the current of the river being too strong. Then she sees him.

Rick can see that she is shaken by the report she has just seen. He steps over to her and sits down on the coffee table and asks,

"Are you alright?"

It's then when she wraps her arms around him and moves in to kiss him deeply.

"It's alright Kate."

She continues to kiss him and he returns the kiss. He needs to tell her who he is and becoming distracted by her kissing him is not helping. He starts to pull back and says to her,

"Maybe we should talk okay?"

She looks into his blue eyes and can only guess that he is in trouble.

"You're wanted by the law aren't you?" She asks.

"Is that what you think?"

"Well, I heard sirens after you left me this morning. Did the police follow you here?"

"I don't think I realized just how big of a hole I have dug for myself."

"How much trouble are you in Bill?"

Rick gets up from her and takes off his coat. He can't be near her when he tells her the truth.

"You are not going to like me very much when I tell you this. God, I should have never let this happen. But I did."

She looks at him as if this is going to be the end of what they have together. Maybe he really is wanted by the cops.

"I want you to know before you start hating me, and you will hate me, that I have fallen in love with you."

Kate can see that he is truthful in his statement. She rises from the couch to go to him but he puts up a hand and stops her.

"No don't. Just don't. Don't interrupt a man in the middle of his confession."

Rick pulls his wallet from his back pocket and opens it in front of her and her eyes go to the shield and the ID card in it.

"I don't work for the phone company. And my name is not Bill. It's Rick."

She's stunned by what he's telling her. This can't be true, she fell for him and he lied to her!

"You're a cop?"

"No, actually I'm a detective. I'm staking out the house of an ex-girlfriend of an escaped federal prisoner."

"You've been watching me?"

All Rick could do was nod his answer.

"From where?" Kate asked.

Rick turns his head to look at their house and says,

"Across the street."

Kate slowly walks to her deck door all the while thinking about what she has just learned. Without turning to face him she asks about her phones.

"What about my phones Rick?"

He nods once again. Then she rushes past him and down the stairs and by the time he realizes where she's going he turns yelling out her name.

"Kate!"

* * *

Kevin is halfway finished packing up the surveillance equipment when he hears Rick yelling after Kate.

"Listen to me!" Rick yells as he runs out of her house.

"Is that the house? Kate says as she points to the blue house running across the street.

"Uh oh," Kevin says to himself as he sees Kate coming to the house.

Kate runs up the stairs and spots another man with a cheesy mustache turning away from her and trying to hide something behind his back.

"What do you have there?" Kate asks as she turns Kevin around revealing a 35 mm camera with a high-resolution telephoto lens.

All Kevin can do is stay quiet as Kate walks around the house seeing everything. Only then she sees the pictures of herself that Esposito and Sully have hung up on the wall and drew fake boobs on it with a goatee and devil ears. Her look went from amused to disgust in a split second. Rick sees what she is looking at and drops his head in shame.

After a long pause for Kate to collect her thoughts, she finally speaks.

"You guys are fucking unbelievable. I hope I didn't disappoint you!"

Kate storms out of the room and back down the stairs trying to hide her tears.

Rick needs to stop her from thinking that this was all his fault. It was and it wasn't.

"Kate please stop!"

By the time he gets down the stairs, Kate has a considerable lead on him. He runs to catch her and when he is close to her he grabs her arm and stops her forward motion.

"Kate listen to me!" he says as he turns her towards him. Rick grabs her by her shoulders and tells her this,

"Kate, I was doing my job god damn it. Now whether you like it or I like it, it doesn't make a difference. There wasn't any fun in it and what happened between me and you was not a part of it, it was my mistake. Kate, I wanted to tell you… but I...I couldn't."

"You are a son of a bitch." Kate throws his shield and ID on the street and runs home. Rick knows that he screwed up but he needs to get her back. He leaves his ID and shield lying on the street and turns to lean on a newer Mustang parked close by thinking about how to get her back.

* * *

Kate had enough and never wants to see him again. She reaches the top step of her staircase and she is violently pulled to her left and a hand covers her mouth keeping her from screaming. The second she realizes who has done this she wishes Rick was here to help her.

"You broke my heart, Kate," Josh tells her.

Kate has no clue what to do. But she needs to stall for time to get away from this lunatic.

"I thought you were dead." She states.

The second he leans into her she is repulsed when his lips crash into hers. He tries to kiss her roughly but she turns him away and finally gets her hands on his chest to give him a good shove away from her.

"I made it... I got back to you. Why are you pushing me away?"

Kate hears her front door open and knows exactly who was coming up the stairs. She only hopes that Josh keeps his cool.

* * *

Josh hears the same thing and pulls out the gun tucked away in his waistband and aims it at the top of the stairs. He won't hesitate to shoot whoever is coming up the stairs.

"Who the fuck is that?" He whispers to Kate.

* * *

Rick can only hope that she will forgive him. He climbs the stairs all the time thinking about what he will say to her and as he reaches the top he says,

"Kate will you listen to me… okay, I really couldn't tell you that I was…"

* * *

"That you were what?" Josh demanded with his finger on the trigger.

Rick was in way too deep. His ID and shield lay in the street and his gun was out in his car and this guy had a gun to his head.

Kate puts her hand on Josh's arm to try and lower his gun but she has no success.

"That you were what?" Josh says again as he gets into a better position to kill this guy if he needs to.

"You better start talking," Josh tells the new visitor.

"Kate, who is this guy? Wait a second, is he the reason… are you seeing this guy?"

Josh has had enough. He cocks the hammer on his gun and asks the new guy to take a walk into the living room. When he doesn't move he tells him to move.

"Get in the fucking living room!"

Rick has no choice but to comply because if he doesn't he's a dead man.

* * *

Kevin who had just finished packing up all the gear came out to see how Rick was doing. He takes a deep breath and rubs his neck to soothe the pain he has there. He looks across the street and can't begin to think about what Rick must be going through with Kate. He looks more intently at her home and sees something that chills him. Their suspect who had been hanging on the wall in the stakeout house in the form of a wanted poster is moving Rick and Kate along with a gun pointed at both of them. He draws his weapon and quickly runs across the street hoping to cut off their suspect. Ryan decides to cut through to the backyard using the adjacent house to get up on the roof to see what's going on inside.

* * *

"Richard Casteel?" Josh asked.

"Rick Castle. It's pronounced Castle."

"Casteel, Castle. Whatever. Rick tell me, what are you doing bothering my old lady?"

"We had a fight alright."

"Oh yeah? What about?"

"About none of your goddamn business."

Rick, who had been keeping an eye on Kate, found his head being slammed into the divider between the kitchen and living room.

"Listen, pal, it's all my business. Now, what was the fight about?"

"She found out that I was violating my parole okay."

Rick had Josh's gun at his head and when he looked at Kate he could see that his story was a doozy. She hid a small smile with her hand and looked down before Josh could see her reaction.

"Are you kidding me?" Josh asks.

Kate slowly shakes her head and Josh can't believe that a guy like this could have done time anywhere.

"Rick tell me… what kind of candy assed crime did you commit? Did you steal an old lady's purse? What did you do?"

Rick decides not to answer because he needs to come up with a good story. But Josh is not having any of it and presses the gun to his head.

"What did you do?" Josh demanded as he spun Rick around.

"Take it easy will ya."

"Don't tell me to take it easy. What did you do?"

"I rob banks."

"You rob banks? Ha, I don't believe it."

TBC


	16. Chapter 16

"Not that I don't believe you, wait I don't believe that you rob banks. Rick go and have a seat on the couch over there." Josh says as he waves his gun in Rick's face.

"Kate honey, get me a knife."

Kate swallows hard. Why would he want a knife? She doesn't want anything to happen to Rick even if he did lie to her.

"A knife?"

"Yes, a knife," Josh repeats.

Rick walks into the living room and sits down on the couch and Josh follows.

* * *

Kevin who had decided that to save Rick's ass climbs up Kate's back stairway that leads her kitchen and living room area. He pokes his head to the window to see the situation. he's in luck because Josh and Rick are sitting on the couch together. but what alerts him to trouble is the fact that Kate is walking out of the kitchen with a knife. he watches a little longer and then he sees Kate give the knife to Josh. He ducks down out of sight and tries to find an alternate way to our kitchen window so he can get a shot off at Josh.

* * *

"Did you do time Rick?" Josh asks

"I did a year and a half."

"Where?"

"Sing Sing upstate New York."

Kate walks up to Josh with the knife in her hand. When Josh sees her he asks her for the knife.

"Give me the knife Kate."

The first Kate tries to pull the knife away but before she can he grabs it. She doesn't let it go because she knows the second she does he's going to use it against Rick. He is stronger than she is and he pries it from her hand.

* * *

Kevin is still in the process of trying to get to a window he can get a good shot off at Josh but is having no luck.

* * *

"Do you know who I am?" Josh asks Rick.

"No man I don't know who you are."

Josh gets up and walks behind Rick who is sitting on the couch. He takes the knife and he plunges it into the back of the couch ripping the material apart.

"I don't believe you. I think you know exactly who I am."

Rick feels the knife go into the back of the couch and the movement almost hits him he turns around and says to Josh,

"What the hell is the matter with you?

"I just wanted to know what these things were filled with."

Josh pulls out some stuffing and throws it over his shoulder and then he reaches into the back of the couch once more and pulls out three wads of one hundred dollar bills close to $150,000.

"Well, what it looks like they're made of money."

Kate looks at Rick and he could tell that she knew nothing of the money that was hidden in the back of her couch.

Josh gets up after he takes the money out, puts it on the counter, and picks up the phone.

"You know I was in Sing Sing did you know Peter Dell?"

"Nope," Rick replies.

"How about Mad Dog Ross? You gotta know Mad Dog."

"No, I don't know him either. But it was a pretty big place."

"If you don't know him who did you know? Did you know Eddy Gant?" Josh asks as he raises his gun and points it at Rick waiting for an answer.

"Yeah, yeah I knew Eddy Gant."

"What was he in for?"

Rick looks Josh square in the eye and says as clear as he can,

"He killed a cop."

Josh lowers his gun and continues with his phone call.

"Hello, Yeah yeah guess who this is? Yeah, that's right. Now shut up because I'm here to tell you that rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. Listen I don't have much time where are we going to do this because I need to do this now."

* * *

Kevin has finally found a window that he can get a good look at Josh he watches as Rick and Kate are sitting on the couch in the living room and Josh is on the phone.

* * *

"Okay, I'll be there. See you in twenty." Josh hangs up the phone and rubs his chin. He looks towards Kate and says,

"Pack a bag. We're leaving."

Just as Josh turns towards the kitchen and a light comes on from the neighboring house and it draws his attention to the window and he sees Kevin with his gun pointed right at him. He drops behind the counter for cover and when Rick sees him doing this he instinctively does the same thing.

"What's wrong?" Rick asks.

"Someone's out there!"

Rick knows who that someone is. Kevin has his back.

"You, get out the front door," Josh says as he points his gun back at Rick threatening to fire it at him.

"Relax man! Listen I'm not a part of whatever this is." Rick says.

"I don't care! Get down the stairs." Josh follows Rick down the stairs but before he goes he tells Kate,

"I will be back!"

* * *

Kevin knows that he was spotted and needs to get away from here. His only option is to jump across the alley to the other house and hide there. He can make the leap but he's unsure if the awning will hold him. He jumps anyway and makes it hoping that he wasn't seen.

* * *

Rick knows that Kevin is out there and he needs to get to him first. He saw Josh run out the front door and he will be looking for him too. Rick looks up to where Kevin last was and sees nothing. Then Kevin drops off the awning Rick spins around quickly.

Kevin pops up and as Rick turns around he sees Josh pointing a gun directly at his back. There's only one thing he can do and he's going to regret it but it's going to save his life so he pulls back his arm and punches Kevin right in the face.

Kevin sees Rick walking down between the two houses and drops him behind him Rick spins around the next thing he feels is his fist hitting his face. And if that wasn't bad enough he does it again. His gun hits the ground and Kevin falls backward.

Rick can see Josh itching to pull the trigger so he punches Kevin once more and then Kevin drops his gun and falls to the ground. The second he does he puts his hands up not wanting to be shot himself. Josh rushes up to Rick with his gun still pointed at him and retrieves Kevin's gun.

"What the fuck is going on?" Josh demands.

"I don't know man, take it easy." Rick still didn't want to get shot by this nut.

Josh needs to be out of sight because if he's caught here it's over for him. He orders Rick to get whoever this guy is inside the house. Rick picks up Kevin in a fireman's carry and brings him inside. Once he's inside Kate sees what's going on and keeps quiet. Rick dumps Kevin onto the couch and Josh searches him for any ID. When he finds something on him he looks at Rick.

"A cop! I should have known." He says as he throws the badge down.

Josh then finds his handcuffs and backs up from him. Just as he was about to tell Rick to cuff him Kevin comes around and wonders what the hell is going on.

"Hey what are you…"

"Shut up cop. Yeah, we know that you're a cop." Rick says to keep Kevin from being shot. Kevin sees the seriousness in his partner's eyes and stops talking.

"Hey back off," Josh tells Rick. He wants to know how this cop knew he was going to be here.

"How did you know that I was going to be here?"

Kevin looks at Josh defiantly. When he doesn't answer him Josh points the gun at him.

"If you don't tell me how you knew I'd be here you can say goodbye to your mother," Josh says as he pulls the hammer back on his gun.

Kate can see this going badly and grabs Josh's arm.

"Josh don't please!" She asks.

Just as she was going to say something else Rick speaks.

"He wasn't after you. He was after me. He was following me!"

All three of them turn and look at him. He needs to act fast and he does.

"What?" Josh says.

"Yeah. he was following me. I violated my parole remember. He was following me for a week." Rick walks over to Kevin and smacks him on the chest.

"I was onto you on Saturday asshole. You need to do your job better."

Rick thinks that he has a way to get Kevin safe and tells Josh,

"Look, Davidson, I have a car right outside. I can take you anywhere you want to go." Rick says.

Josh looks at Rick and then throws him Kevin's handcuffs.

"Cuff his hands behind his back. If he gets lose, you die!"

Rick swallows hard and does what Josh wants. As he pulls Kevin up to cuff him Josh tells him,

"You may think serving time and having a couple of cops on my ass gives me a reason to trust you, well let me tell you pal, the last people in the world I trust are ex-cons. Now let's move."

All four of them head to Rick's unmarked car and get in. Rick drives and he's waiting for Josh to tell him where he needs to go.

"Where are we going?" Rick asks.

"Just drive I'll tell you as we go," Josh replies.

Rick looks at Kate and Josh in the rearview mirror, and he can't stand the fact that Josh is practically molesting her in the back seat.

"So tell me, Kate, what's the deal with this guy? I can't believe you even know someone like this."

Kate looks directly at Rick looking at her in the mirror and says,

"I don't even know who he is."

"Ain't love great Rick? One minute you're a god and the next you're a pig."

Rick kept an eye on Josh and he knew that it would piss him off if he had kissed her so the next thing he sees is Josh forcing a kiss to her lips and she complies but he can tell that she hates it.

In a whisper, he tells her that they are leaving the country. Rick still hears him and asks,

"You going to Canada?"

"What are you, Rick? A travel agent? Just shut up and drive."

* * *

Rick looks forward and drives. By the time they get to where they are going, it's almost 4 am. They are on the Manhattan side of the East River. Josh tells Rick to pull over near an old factory and park the car. He does and they all get out of the car. Josh grabs Kevin and shoves him down the ramp that leads to the dock Kate and Rick follow.

When they get to the end of the dock Josh trips up Kevin and he lands in a pile of nets used for fishing. Rick is ordered to sit next to him. He objects and Josh is having none of it.

"Sit there and keep your mouth shut." Josh points the gun at Rick.

He turns away from the pair and walks up to Kate. Then he takes her by the arm.

"Kate, I need you to take a walk while I talk to this guy. He's our ticket out of here. So take a five minute walk okay."

"Why Josh?"

"Just take a walk for me will ya? Come back in five minutes then we can leave."

"You're going to kill them aren't you?"

He looks at her and can't believe that she doesn't get it. So he'll tell her.

"Of course I'm going to kill them. I am not going to make love to them."

"And you expect me to go with you after you kill them?"

" They've seen my face Kate. I am not going back to prison. How long do you think I will live if I let them go?"

Rick took the opportunity to pass his handcuff keys to Kevin behind his back while Kate and Josh talked.

"They're both going to die, Kate because that guy is a cop and that guy…"

"Why?" Kate asks.

Josh pauses to think about what Rick had done to his woman "...has been inside you. Now take a walk."

"No. I'm not leaving."

It was then that Rick looked to his left and saw the small fishing boat coming towards them When he looked closer he recognized the man driving the boat. It was the same guy that they lost a week ago trying to capture in the fish factory. He tapped Kevin on the shoulder and motioned his head to the left. Kevin looks and finally gets his hands free of the cuffs.

"Kate get out of my way!"

Josh tries to take Kate and force her away from the dock but she only tells him to stop.

"Get your fucking hands off me."

He grabs her and tosses her to the ground. Kate is up and when she sees Josh raise his gun and get ready to pull the trigger she jumps on his back. He tosses her away like a rag doll. Then she stands right in front of him and open palm slaps him in the face. That was a mistake.

Josh has had enough and takes the butt of his gun and strikes Kate in the jaw knocking her down. When she falls she hits her head on the wooden railing and is dazed. She falls to the dock.

"Don't you ever hit me!" Josh says as he points his gun at her.

Rick wants to jump in and stop her from getting hurt anymore but the boat has now pulled up to where they are.

"Come on man we gotta get out of here!" The boat driver says.

Josh watches as he gets off the boat. When he sees Rick he tells Josh,

"You idiot! He's a cop."

"I know he's a cop. That's why he's handcuffed." Josh as he points to Kevin.

"Not him, jerk off, the other guy."

Just then Kevin springs forward and lands a punch to Josh's head that catches him off guard and he falls backward. When Rick grabs his arm to disarm him Josh takes his arm and throws him into the East River.

Kevin tackles the boat driver and they fall to the deck of the boat. They throw a couple of punches and the last one hits Kebin and knocks him back to the deck. Seeing this the boat driver grabs a net hook and embedding it into Kevin's shoulder causing him instant pain. Then with his momentum, he throws Kevin overboard.

Josh had seen Rick go over the edge of the dock and starts shooting at his last location in the water. Every time he fires a shot Kate screams knowing that one of his shots will hit him.

The boat driver takes advantage of having no cop after him and pushes the throttle to full speed. Josh sees this and can't believe that his way out of here is leaving.

"Hey wait for me you asshole!" Josh screams as the boat pulls away from the dock. Josh fires two rounds at the boat and both miss the driver.

* * *

Kevin had been able to get a hold of the tire bumpers that hung from the side of the boat. He hoisted himself up and got on the deck without being heard.

Rick swam close to shore where his car was parked and got out of the river and made his way to the car to get his gun.

Josh pulled Kate by her arm and shoved her back up the ramp that led to the shore. Rick seeing this made a run for the last 50 feet. He gets to the passenger side and opens the glove box to pull out his gun. Josh sees him in the car and raises his gun and fires a shot that hits the passenger window shattering it. Rick ducks and pops his head up to shoot back but Josh is using Kate as a human shield.

Kate sees a chance to get away so she elbows Josh in the stomach and he loses his grip on her. She ducks and Rick fires. He missed him by inches. Josh jumps over the fence and pops up and fires two more rounds that hit Rick's passenger side door then he runs into the factory. Rick fires once more but he misses.

* * *

From where he is Kevin can see the guy driving the boat and he's very quietly moving up to the upper command helm. He is close to him so he doesn't know he's even on board. Kevin climbs up the ladder and he has complete surprise, that is until he kicks a plastic bucket that alerts the driver that he's behind him. Kevin dropkicks him in the chest and pushed him back towards the throttle controls making the boat speed up when his arm pushes the throttle forward. It hits dock piling and bounces off it and Kevin gets in three good shots to his head. Then the guy gets his second wind and punches Kevin in the stomach. They trade blows for a good 30 seconds before the boat hits logs that are piled up for processing. Kevin and the guy he's fighting almost fall over. But Kevin gives him one good shot to the stomach and he falls onto the logs in the river. Kevin is holding on with one hand to the grab handle. He watches as the guy tries to get a hold of the log but it keeps spinning in the water. Eventually, he falls under the logs when they crush his body and he drowns.

* * *

Rick followed Josh into the wood processing company and when he saw him he fired two more rounds at him which both missed. Josh gets the idea to run to the control room and turn on everything to confuse Rick. It worked because when the logging machine came on Rick was disorientated and almost got hit by a hydraulic arm by one of the machines.

Josh watches as Rick dodges the log that rolls down and gets him close to a large saw blade. He follows one log that is being stripped of its bark and sees Josh still in the control room. He raises his weapon and fires twice breaking the glass and missing Josh by inches. Josh who had seen the shots coming ducks away from the flying glass and pops up to fire back but misses. He needs to get out of here. He was watching as the machine started to move in the opposite direction forcing Rick to move with the machine. By the time the machine had run its full cycle and Rick had nowhere to go before he got crushed by the log. Fortunately, Rick had fallen into a chute designed for the bark that was stripped off the tree. He slid below where the log was being cut. When he fell he dropped his gun along the conveyor belt and was heading towards a mulcher. He can't reach his gun.

As luck would have it the mulcher jammed up and he could try to get his gun back. He picked up a long board from the floor to try to knock his gun off the belt but while he was doing this the conveyor belt cleared the jam and his gun went into the mulcher becoming tiny pieces. He saw a shadow below him and hid because he knew it was Josh.

Josh needed to kill this cop. He jumped down to where he saw him last and started to search the area finding nothing. He was turning around to look in another area when he noticed someone jumping down through an opening in the walkway and slammed into his chest knocking him over dropping his gun in the shuffle.

Rick kept hitting Josh but Josh got his punches in as well. Rick sees the gun he dropped and tries to reach it. He was grabbed by Josh and thrown him against a log that had just rolled down to conveyor belt be stripped. Seeing this Josh pushed Rick into the belt and Rick's coat sleeve got stuck under the log allowing Josh to get the gun and shoot him.

Josh reaches for the gun and turns to where the cop was and finds him right where he left him. Knowing that he is stuck he raises his gun and says,

"I hope that you believe in reincarnation!"

He was about to pull the trigger and the cop was in his sights but he was hit in the head by a hard object.

Kate watched as Josh found his gun and went back to Rick to shoot him. She needed to act fast so the only thing she could use was a long piece of wood that was trimmed off the log. She picked up and swung it at Josh's head knocking him backward.

Stunned from the hit to his head Josh drops his gun and lands on the ground. Shaking it off he gets up to see Kate holding a long chunk of wood. When he goes to get up she shouts at him to stay there and not move. He does anyway and goes after her. She raises the wood and lands another hit to his shoulder.

Rick sees Kate hit Josh and the gun drop to the ground. He wriggles himself free and lunges for the gun. Once he has it he aims at Josh and fires. He hits him center mass and Josh goes down not believing that he was just shot in the chest. Rick watches as he falls back onto his elbow and he still can't believe that he was shot. He looks at Kate and then to Rick and he falls the rest of the way with his head on the ground dead.

* * *

Hours later Josh is in a body bag waiting for the coroner to take him to the morgue Sorrenson and Rick are watching as the zipper to the bag is closed.

"I was supposed to give you a call you if I saw him." He says as he points to Josh.

Sorrenson looks at Rick and Rick says,

"I forgot."

Rick sees Kevin being loaded onto an ambulance and walks up to the EMT loading him up.

"Will he be okay?"

"He will be once you get out of my way." The EMT replies.

"Kevin, how are you?"

"I'm good how are you, Rick?"

"I'm a little tired but other than that I'm okay."

"A little tired huh? I'll tell you what, get some rest because when I get better I'm going to kick your ass."

Rick can only laugh at him as he walks away.

"Castle, you did not hit me once but twice! This was one of the worst nights of my life. You're dust Castle just wait!"

"I'll see you soon Kevin," Rick says as he walks away still laughing. Then he sees Captain Montgomery. He walks up to him and sees Kate over his shoulder sitting in a marked unit.

"Turn around Castle."

"Turn around? I just want to see how she's doing."

"Listen Sorrenson from the FBI says that you and she have something going on with each other. They want a full investigation. He said that you could be in a lot of trouble."

"What! Nothing is going on with us." Rick protests.

"Then I told him that you're always in trouble." Montgomery gives Rick a tight smile and a chuckle and walks away patting him on the back.

Rick walks over to where Kate is and looks at her. He sees the dried blood from when Josh hit her with his gun and feels bad. He looks her right in the eyes and says,

"You saved my life."

She sees him for who he is at this moment and then has a thought to keep him forever.

"You do know what that means don't you?"

"No what?"

Kate gets up from the car and says,

"You belong to me now." She says with tears forming in her eyes.

Rick pulls her to him and kisses her as his life depended on it. Captain Montgomery who was just about to get into his car looks across to where he left Rick and sees them close to each other in a serious lip lock and shakes his head knowing that they were involved all along. But he hopes they make it. It would be a good thing to come out of all this.

"What's your name really?

"It is Rick. Rick Castle."

"Well Rick, I love you."

Rick looks into her eyes again and when she looks into his he says,

"Kate, I love you too. Let me take you home."

As they walk away towards his car Kevin had seen them kissing each other from the back of the ambulance says to himself,

"_What a bone head…."_

**~Fin~**

**A/N: Sorry for the delay in posting this. But it is now complete. Thanks for reading and I do apologize for any bad feelings/memories that I might have caused earlier in the story. Until next time…**

**P2P**


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